Justice For All
by Project Starvix
Summary: Megamind has been the good guy for a year now, but he's still trying to get the hang of it. When the Justice League offers him membership, one of the more prominent members' similarities to Metro Man has him understandably wary of their true motives...
1. Chapter 1

**Editor:** ** _After a few months of sitting on my rear, I've finally decided to try posting this one chapter at a time when I can. Resurrected from the original Starvix's profile, Justice For All is_** **NOT** ** _mine! I only edited the story for grammar and spelling. Special thanks to_** **Archivist001** ** _and_** **MyRandomName** ** _for finding the story floating in the cold dark rift that is the internet!_**

 **PS:** ** _I'm not sure if anyone is interested in Starvix's before and after notes with each chapter. So, for this first chapter, I'll only include her original disclaimer!_**

First off, I have to admit, I haven't been this excited about writing a new fic in nearly a year now. For so long, my fics have either been started because someone requested it, or it's a sequel fic, or a combination of the two, and it gets tedious. Don't get me wrong, folks; I am having fun with the 3 currently active Sonic the Hedgehog stories I got, and I enjoy hearing and even trying ideas that you toss to me, and I promise you that I am fully intending to finish them asap. (being authors, you know that sometimes Author's Block can make things tricky, and besides that, I haven't been eager to write anything for a while now really.)

Finally, I came up with this idea myself, although afterwards while looking through the No You Can't forum in the Megamind section, I saw that darkryubaby had previously suggested a similar crossover, and I did get permission seeing as it was a similar idea and I didn't want anyone to think I stole it. You can actually see my request and darkryubaby's ok if you go to that forum. So, recap: Nobody requested I do this fic, I'm super excited about writing again because of it, and I will continue to work on the rest of my fics, promise.

 **Disclaimer:** _ **I do not own Justice League, or Megamind. This story takes place about one year post-movie in the Megamind universe, and starts just after Starcrossed in the JL universe, with references and mild spoilers to Justice League Unlimited episodes throughout the story, as it is supposed to be happening during that same timeframe.**_

The night was peaceful and still; stars twinkled in the heavens, although technically it was hard to tell seeing as the city's lights tended to mute their effect. But stars notwithstanding, Metro City was sublimely peaceful at this time of night.

 **KA-BOOOM!**

Ok, so maybe the peace was short-lived. It generally was in the place known by most of the residents as Metro City, and by one rather peculiar one who insisted on pronouncing it 'Metrocity'. But anyway, an alarm began to scream in the night, as if protesting the sound of the explosion, and inside of Metro City First National Bank, three masked men were hurriedly going about their business—although to be frank, they technically had no business being there after hours.

"Oh, man, oh, man, I knew this was a bad idea," moaned one shaky-looking criminal, dressed in the overly-used clichéd black body suit, including ski mask. An equally over used and clichéd—but no less dangerous for that fact—handgun was clutched tightly in his right arm, and he was shaking so that one would easily mistake him for some sort of clichéd, black Jello man.

"Stop your whining, Frank," Snapped another criminal, this one much more composed. He was the boss, or at least he seemed to be in charge. "We'll be out of here soon enough with the cash."

The words were no sooner out of his mouth when the lights in the building suddenly cut off, leaving the three men in pitch blackness. Smoke started to pour into the building from the outside, and red and blue lights seemed to start blinking in and out, along with what appeared to be a strobe light, casting the world in a eerie lighting that served to freak Frank out and unnerve the others.

"Oh, geez! Oh, geez! This is so bad, he's _here_!" Frank shrieked, his voice assuming a pitch that a man should not be able to reach.

"Shut UP Frank," snapped the man in command, his gun poised and at the ready as he tried to peer through the smoke. "Grab whatever loot you can and let's get out of here."

"You won't need loot where you're going," said a calm, slightly haughty voice, as a figure melodramatically walked through the fog, the seemingly random lights all suddenly pointing towards him to give him an otherworldly spotlight. Megamind, Incredibly Handsome Super Genius and Master of all Heroics, smirked at the three crooks and aimed his de-gun at them dramatically. "Which is jail." He added.

Frank screamed.

"Nice lady scream, by the way," Megamind complimented him, before the as of now unnamed accomplice currently standing next to Frank disappeared and a blue cube fell to the ground from where he had been standing.

"Get him!" the boss yelled, and he and Frank opened fire on the blue alien.

Twisting his body in ways that most certainly were not humanly possible, Megamind smirked as the bullets harmlessly flew past him, and fired his own in the middle of a particularly Matrix-esque move—and he should know, he had spent weeks practicing that particular move after Roxanne brought the Matrix over to watch with him and he realized just how cool-looking it was, not that he'd ever admit any of that under interrogation—and the boss-man also seemingly dissolved, a small blue block hitting the ground in his stead.

That just left Megamind and Frank, the only non-dehydrated member of this bungled little burglary. Who, the alien noticed happily, looked like he was about to pee his pants right now. Of course, Megamind kept any signs of his glee to himself, and with practiced ease narrowed his face into a menacing sneer.

"Boo."

Frank screamed at the calmly-spoken word, turned, and ran right into a pillar that the architect of the bank had placed inside the building for a more aesthetically pleasing environment. The would-be crook gave a little whimper, then slowly slid down the pillar, a trail of drool left behind as the obviously-unconscious crook collapsed to the ground.

Megamind shook his head. "The een-comp- ee-tanz of crooks these days," he sighed, either not knowing or not caring of his bungled attempt to say the word 'incompetence' before dehydrating Frank to ensure he wouldn't regain consciousness and escape before the cops came to take him away. He picked up the three orbs and put them on a nearby countertop, then quickly scrawled a little note for the police. "Keep in dry place…hugs and kisses, MM," he spoke aloud as he was writing, then placed the note with the cubes. "Well, that really ought to do it," he said proudly once he'd finished.

He brushed his hands off, turned, and suddenly the song 'Hero' by Skillet blasted through the room so loudly he nearly fell off his feet. "Gah!" he yelped, instinctively drawing his De-Gun before he realized what had happened. His face dropped into a contemplative scowl that Roxanne had the gall to call cute—it was _not_ , of course—and muttered, "Minion, I will kill you."

He put away his De-Gun and stalked out of the building, his glare falling towards what appeared to be a fish in a gorilla suit, who appeared to be fiddling with a CD player.

"Got it!" the fish was saying triumphantly. "OK, Sir, we've had a few technical difficulties with the new CD player, but now we're all ready to go stop some robbers."

"I already stopped the robbers, Minion," Megamind told his friend calmly. "Without heroic theme music I might add."

Minion seemed to deflate slightly. "I'm sorry, Sir," he said apologetically.

Megamind's annoyance evaporated. "Don't worry about it, Minion," he said. "We're still fairly new to the whole 'hero' business, so I'm sure you'll get it right eventually."

Minion perked up. "Next time for sure, Sir," he replied.

"I don't believe I know this song," Megamind continued, more to change the subject than anything else. _Hero_ was still blaring from the CD player, as Minion had not yet turned it off.

"I just bought it from Wal-Mart online," Minion explained. "I was attempting to find some good Heroic music. Do you like it?"

"Well, it's not Metallica," Megamind replied. "But it's not half bad." _Better than Music Man's new 'hit'_ he thought to himself, shuddering at the thought of the new song that for some reason, the residents of Metro City had loved enough that it was currently playing on every station seemingly every time he turned on the radio. He shook himself out of such unpleasant memories quickly, however, and, slapping Minion's arm lightly, he continued. "Well, let's head back to The Lair Formerly Known as Evil then."

The two laughed, a hauntingly evil sounding laugh (they were still working on non-evil laughs, and the bwa-ha-ha's just came too easily to ignore them sometimes) and walked back down the road towards the invisible car. They'd have parked closer, but the road that the bank was on had a strict no parking from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. law, and Megamind assumed that if they were going to be heroes, they needed to obey _all_ the laws, even the stupid ones that made absolutely no sense.

Finally, the laughter died down, and Minion cleared his throat. "Uh, Sir? Is that really what we're going to call Evil Lair now?"

Megamind waved his hand in a dismissive way. "It's a work in progress Minion," he replied.

 **Meanwhile…**

Reforming was a good idea. The hero the world knew as Super Man knew that. The seven of them (Well, six, since Shayera had quit after the Thanagarian invasion) simply could not keep tabs on the whole world, nor could they answer every call for help. Adding new members—lots of new members—was a good idea.

Actually deciding _who_ those members would be, however, was proving to be so frustrating that the Man of Steel was seriously wondering if he could jab a stick of Kryptonite into his own chest and save himself a lot of pain. He shook himself out of the thought; that was a long-term solution to a short-term problem, and would never do. They couldn't possibly argue over the potential new team members forever. Right?

"What about that Spider guy in New York?" Flash asked.

"He's too young," The Green Lantern known as John Stewart answered dismissively.

Flash's jaw dropped. "What, is there an age limit to being able to kick super villain butt that I didn't know about?" he asked, sounding slightly offended.

"There is if you don't want a child-exploitation lawsuit kicking _your_ butt," Lantern replied.

Flash considered this. "Oh," he replied. "Well, forget I mentioned it."

"Already done."

The World's Fastest Man sighed. "And I guess that also excludes Static and Gear, huh?"

"Got it in one."

Super Man cleared his throat. "Does anyone else have another suggestion?" he asked, rather hoping that they did, and a lot of good ones, so that when the time came for him to suggest who _he_ wished to join, they'd be in such a good mood that they wouldn't argue overmuch.

"Green Arrow," Batman said, speaking for the first time since the meeting started.

Flash's nose wrinkled. "Geez, that guy's three nuts away from paranoid delusional, and he doesn't even have any powers."

"Exactly," Batman said simply. "He'll keep you honest."

No one looked quite thrilled at the unspoken assumption in Batman's statement, but since this was, technically, his space station, he got final say in the matter, so it was agreed that Green Arrow could join.

After this, many good suggestions were thrown around, and it was eventually decided that the final roster would include Super Girl, Captain Atom, Hawk and Dove, B'Wanna Beast, the Question, the Atom, Booster Gold (Super Man couldn't figure out how _that_ happened, but it did give him hope so he wasn't complaining) Black Canary, Huntress, Captain Marvel, Vigilante, Vixen, and several others who's names he currently couldn't remember.

Super Man realized that the meeting was winding down, and that he needed to speak now or forever hold his peace. He cleared his throat to gain attention, then said quietly, "I'd like to suggest the new hero of Metro City be allowed to join."

There was a long silence as the League took in what he had said. Green Lantern's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Super Man braced himself for what he knew was coming.

"You mean _Megamind?_ " Lantern yelled. "That criminal?"

"Oh, sweet!" Flash did a fist pump in the air, looking positively giddy. "HECK yeah! That guy is the bomb!"

Super Man released a breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding and gave Flash a heartfelt look of gratitude, pleased that he had some support.

"It was so awesome when he gave up his criminal activities and became the good guy," Flash continued, not particularly caring about what anyone else thought of his speech. "I didn't feel so bad about cheering for him after that."

"Flash!" Green Lantern spluttered, looking hilariously scandalized.

"What? Metro Man's a jerk. We all know that," Flash crossed his arms, daring anyone to contradict him, knowing that nobody could. Metro Man had helped the League once before during a threat that could have potentially destroyed the whole earth, and the general consensus was that he was remarkably self-centered and unpleasant to be around. "Five more minutes with him and _I'd_ have tried to off him," The World's Fastest Man continued, just to finish his point.

"He's got 88 life sentences for kidnapping, attempted murder, murder, and wanton public endangerment," Lantern pointed out.

"No one never pressed any charges for kidnapping, Metro City has exonerated him from any charges considering public endangerment, and we all know he didn't kill Metro Man," Super Man replied. "Or anyone else."

That was certainly true; Metro Man was the one and only murder Megamind ever attempted to commit, and he was the only villain who had not so much as one civilian casualty during his entire criminal career. Say what you want about him, even Green Lantern had to admit, it would be nice if more super villains were that considerate of human life. Unfortunately, Megamind seemed to be one of a kind as far as that was concerned.

As for Metro Man, once it became obvious that Metro City was seriously considering putting Megamind on trial for his murder, the city's ace reporter Roxanne Ritchi 'blew the whistle' on him. None of the heroes currently in the watchtower were at all pleased with the fact that a man who swore to protect his city had faked his own death to get out of it, or the fact that he hadn't even caught any public flak for it, and in fact, his Music Man career skyrocketed once everyone learned the truth about his so-called death.

"Attempted murder, then," Green Lantern pointed out.

"Is it really attempted murder if you know the guy you're after can't possibly be killed?" Flash wondered aloud.

Green Lantern threw his hands in the air and looked at the remaining three members with exasperation. "You talk to them," he requested.

J'onn J'onzz looked thoughtful. "This planet's justice system is based on the idea that former criminals reforming and becoming a helpful member of society, is it not? It seems to me that it's our duty to support the process, and Megamind might do well with established heroes to help him make the transition from villain to hero."

Wonder Woman, however, shook her head, looking uncertain. "In my experience, a criminal does not change his ways so suddenly like Megamind has seemingly done. His change of heart seems…suspicious."

Super Man's heart sank. If Wonder Woman had sided with him, then the majority rules vote would have gotten Megamind into the League. As it was, it was three for, two against, and Batman was the deciding vote. If he voted against, making it three-three, he would still be the deciding factor on the count that it was his station. (As per the unspoken rule since Hawk Girl had quit—if it came to a split three-vs-three debate, the side Batman was on always won, even though he wasn't even 'officially' a member.) And seriously, what were the odds that _Batman_ would agree to have a former criminal in the Justice League?

The Dark Knight mulled it over for a bit, his mind analyzing and considering angles that the rest of them could scarcely grasp, much less consider, and then finally he gave a single nod of the head. "Having him in the League will make it easier to keep an eye on him."

It took him awhile to comprehend what his unlikely friend had just said, and what that meant. Once he did, Super Man gave the Caped Crusader a thankful grin, even though he hadn't intended the offer of membership as a sign of distrust in Megamind's sincerity. He'd been the official protector of Metro City for a little over six and a half months now, a whole year if you included the time he had spent in the hospital recovering from the beating that Tighten had given him. The Man of Steel was certain Megamind was on-the-level about his change in careers.

Flash jumped up with a war whoop, no doubt figuring the many ways he could corner Megamind in the watchtower to talk about different subjects and maybe even find sneaky ways to get an autograph or two. Green Lantern just groaned and rubbed his head.

"This is _not_ a good idea," he predicted, but was ignored.


	2. Chapter 2

**Editor's Note:** ** _After a few yes's for Starvix's original dialogue, I went back and edited in her original dialogue and I'll be adding them in from now on._**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Megamind or Justice League.**

The Lair Formerly Known as Evil (name is a work in progress) was dark, a little on the cold side and had thousands of machine parts scattered around it which, a few scant months ago, used to be his irredeemably evil weapons. (Megamind, as a general rule, preferred to find a way to recycle his inventions for good, but even he couldn't think of one good use for a machine that made mechanical lawyers. He honestly didn't know what he was thinking when he made it, other than it sounded delightfully evil at the time.)

Besides this, it also had thousands of working weapons/similar devices that he had, indeed, decided would be of help to him as he fought the forces of evil. And behind a large red curtain, which was currently pushed to the side allowing one to look in, were designs and half-finished models of yet more inventions that Megamind had determined would be useful, beneficial, or just plain cool to have around.

"Ah, Minion," the blue alien said with a happy sigh, looking around. "There's no place like No Longer Evil Lair." He wrinkled his nose up. "We definitely won't be using that one. It doesn't quite have a big enough kick to it."

"Of course, Sir," Minion agreed wholeheartedly, and not just because minions were supposed to agree whole-heartedly.

Several of Megamind's brain bots appeared, flocking around him and bowing until he consented to throw a wrench for them to chase and chew; just as they always did when he came into his Currently Unnamed Lair.

Once his brain bots were gone, Megamind rubbed his hands together, his eyes lighting up with glee at the thought of all the inventions he was creating, and ideas for projects yet to come. "Minion, keep an eye on the monitors for me, would you? I have many, many new plots that require my immediate attention."

"Of course, Sir," Minion replied. "Oh, and I do believe they're supposed to be 'plans' now; plotting is an evil villain thing."

Megamind paused, his face clearly showing his confusion. "But it's still the exact same thing. How is calling 'plotting' something different change whether it's evil or not?"

"I really don't know," Minion admitted. "It just does."

Megamind sighed. "I will _never_ understand how sieve-i'll-eyes-ed society works," he admitted with a rare show of humility. But it was gone in an instant, and he was back to his cheery, perky self. "Do remember to call me if something happens on the monitors, Minion, I need to be aware of potential dangers to the fair citizens of Metrocity." He never had been able to get out of the habit of making the words Metro City sound suspiciously similar to the word atrocity.

"It's 'civilized', Sir, and I will," Minion assured his friend, correcting the former word but not the latter; the fish knew by now that he needed to pick and choose his battles, and after mispronouncing Metro City for so many years, it was likely that Megamind would never remember to say it correctly.

"Civilized, got it," the genius said nonchalantly, already lost in his own little world filled with plans and inventions.

Minion left him to it and sat himself down in their large revolving chair, watching the many monitors the lair had to offer. After taking the mantle of Metro City's defender, Megamind had taken it upon himself to assign Brain Bots to high-activity areas of the city, such as City Hall, banks, the news station, and other similar places that were likely candidates for criminals to target. A couple of the monitors had roaming Brain Bots feeding them info, as they travelled a path that took them around several different routes for crimes that were targeted towards people, such as muggings, or other potentially dangerous hazards to public safety, such as burning buildings.

The two of them generally took turns watching the monitors, so unless they were already out stopping a crime one or the other was watching at all times during a twenty-four hour period. Roxanne Ritchi kept insisting that they couldn't possibly keep up such a schedule for long, but so far it was working and until problems arrived, Megamind couldn't see the merits in changing his methods of keeping an eye on the city at all times.

Roxanne Ritchi, by the way, was the star reporter of the local news network here in Metro City. She was fearless, smart, witty, talented, very pretty if he did say so himself, and he often did, and most amazingly, she had been Megamind's steady girlfriend for the past six months. It still stunned him whenever he thought of it; simply because he couldn't fathom how he had ever gotten so lucky that someone like Roxanne could tolerate, much less love, him. He never could make the facts add up as to why she would even like him—an ex-villain who was bald and had the complexion of a popular primary color, and who kidnapped her 658 times and threatened to feed her to his pet alligators. (Not to mention the other horrid means of demise he had threatened her with.)

Never mind the fact that he would _never_ allow her to be harmed, and that she had known that since the 5th kidnapping. Nor the fact that she would often engage in mocking and/or witty banter with him while they awaited for Metro Man's timely arrival to save her from alligators that would only eat chicken, for reasons Megamind had never decided to find out. Not that it mattered anyway, because the platform he would have her standing or sitting on was surrounded by a thick, bulletproof glass so that she could see the alligators but they wouldn't be able to get to her, and she couldn't have accidentally fallen in.

All of Megamind's evil, diabolical demises for her, it seemed, had similar fail safe devices that ensured that no matter what happened, not so much as a hair on her head was harmed. But that didn't change the fact that he had _repeatedly kidnapped her_ and disrupted her life, and the simple fact remained that she shouldn't think back to those days and tell him how sweet he was. It didn't add up.

Even though he was arguably the most intelligent being on the planet, he just didn't understand women. He had learned to accept that and move on.

Megamind sighed and returned to his work; thinking of Roxanne was normally pleasant, but he still had very low self-esteem which sometimes, such as now, made him feel very insecure about their relationship. It was simply best to avoid wondering such things until Roxanne was around; she always seemed to know when he was thinking along such lines and she was remarkably good at reassuring him of her heartfelt affections.

During the time it had taken to reflect and wonder about his relationship with Roxanne Ritchi, Megamind had finished several adjustments so that his death ray (it had cost a lot of time and money to get that in orbit; so he _knew_ he had to be able to find _some_ way to keep it from going to waste) would now be able to give everyone in the city free cable for life. He had also drawn a complex blueprint of a freeze ray, similar to the ones Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold used. Freeze rays were cool, and who said that bad guys had some sort of monopoly? Besides, he'd always wanted to have a freeze ray, but hadn't had the time to make a whole new gun as of yet. He'd thought of adding a freezing setting to his De Gun, but the only freezing thing he could think of with 'de' in the front was 'defrost' which was the exact opposite of what he wanted.

He was currently putting some artistic touches to his blueprints to make it that much neater and was already compiling a mental list of places where he could pick up materials to make it, when he heard Minion's voice calling uncertainly for him. "Uh, Boss? You might want to see this…"

Megamind looked up, his plans already forgotten as he rushed over to Minion's side. "What is it? A robber? A jaywalker? A jaywalking robber?" Even though they had just stopped a bank heist the night before, it had been nearly twelve hours since then and he was bored and quite eager for something to do.

"No, Sir, it's nothing like that," Minion replied quickly. "It's uh…actually, I think you'd better see for yourself."

Megamind frowned, a little annoyed over the secrecy but also extremely curious. He walked over to the monitors and took a long look. His eyes narrowed and his lips pursed together dangerously when he saw the man Minion was currently gawking at.

"What's _he_ doing here?" The alien's tone was surprisingly bitter, which surprised Minion greatly. He'd only ever heard his boss use that tone when they were discussing Metro Man, before they had become the good guys, but the man they were currently watching was certainly not Metro Man.

Although, the fish reflectively, Superman was so similar to him it couldn't help but give one the creeps. The two watched the Man of Steel fly around Metro City, obviously searching for something, or someone.

"I think he's looking for you, Sir," Minion said finally.

Megamind rolled his eyes. "Well, I might as well let Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes-Mark-Two have his say and get him out of here," He sighed, and his shoulders seemed to slump. "I've been trying, Minion," he said, sounding less defiant and more defeated this time. "Why can't he just let me be a hero?"

Minion looked over to his best friend, worried at the tone of voice. "Are you sure that's what he's here for, Sir? To try to make you be the villain again?"

"Why else would he be here?" Megamind asked theoretically, his face hardening as he checked to make sure his de-gun was still on dehydrate. "But I'm done with letting glorified, muscle-bound morons try to tell me who to be. I'm not letting his opinions define who I am like I did with Metro Man."

Minion gave a small, mental sigh of relief. He'd been worried that if Superman, or any other hero for that matter, showed up and tried to convince Megamind he was still a villain, Megamind would believe them and go back to villainy. His self-esteem was, in fact, still so low that it would be a real problem. But at least the Boss was determined to prove his worth, instead of just agreeing with others' judgmental opinions of him.

Megamind struck a dramatic, heroic pose, (he had been practicing them) and stated in his best heroic voice, "Minion, code: Follow me to the invisible car!"

Minion sighed. "Sir, one of these days, we're really going to have to sit down and have a long talk about the point of having a code in the first place."

Megamind scowled at him. "Code: Just do as I ask, Minion," he snapped.

"Code: I'm on it, Sir," Minion replied, and Megamind gave him a big, happy, childish grin of delight. The fish sighed, decided to just let Megamind be happy with his current 'code', and followed the still super-happy blue genius to the invisible car for a rendezvous with Superman.

* * *

To be honest, Super Man didn't know exactly how to get in contact with Megamind; no one in the hero community did, he wasn't exactly social. After explaining his reasons for wanting to find Megamind to the Mayor of Metro City, he had been told to simply hang around City Hall and Megamind would likely get curious as to why he was there and come to him. Having no better ideas, except perhaps to wander aimlessly around the city hoping to run into him, the Man of Steel agreed.

He never saw the invisible car, for obvious reasons, but he certainly heard it when it ground to a halt in a nearby parking space, squealing tires leaving tire tracks that seemed to simply form themselves. So when Megamind suddenly appeared out of thin air after he exited the car, Super Man wasn't at all surprised to see him. He was a bit taken aback, however, by the look of anger and—hurt?—that the blue alien sported as he practically stomped up to him and jabbed a finger in his chest.

"What do I have to do to prove to you people that I'm not evil anymore? I'm doing the best I can here! Is it too much to ask for a little condensation?"

"I believe the word you're looking for is 'consideration', Sir," Minion called after him helpfully.

"Yes, _that_!" Megamind was obviously ranting, waving his arms in dramatic and slightly comical ways as he said his piece. "I'm so tired of everyone taking one look at me and deciding that I'm automatically evil and must be treated as such! I don't _care_ what you think, I've done _nothing_ wrong and if you think I'm going to let you just throw me in jail, you're obviously in for a very rude reality check!"

Super Man let Megamind say his piece, and, once the blue alien had finished and was trying to catch his breath after his display, quietly replied, "I'm not here to take you to jail, Megamind."

It was increasingly obvious that Megamind had little or no control over his emotions; his face displayed what he was feeling with the subtly of a lighted billboard. "I…what? But…but I thought…" The stunned and bewildered look he was currently sporting quickly faded into something resembling suspicion. "Well, then, just why _are_ you here?"

"I'm here to offer you a membership to the Justice League," Super Man replied, handing Megamind a small ring with the letters JLA on it. "We're currently expanding our membership base, and we—I—would be pleased if you would become a part of it."

Megamind frowned, taking the membership ring and inspecting it skeptically. "I don't know if I want to leave Metrocity," he said simply.

"Metro City will always be your city," Superman assured him. "But joining the League will allow the heroes of the world to better manage their time and resources to do the most good for the most people." Seeing that Megamind suddenly looked unsure, Super Man sighed. "You don't have to answer right away. Just think about it, ok? Inside the ring is a two-way radio device that you can use to get in touch with us. Just put it in your ear and tell us if you accept, once you make your decision."

Megamind swallowed, and nodded. "I will," he said softly. Super Man gave him a reassuring smile before he took off, his speed allowing him to leave Metro City in a matter of seconds.

Minion was beside himself with excitement. He had hoped something similar to this would happen, although he hadn't been sure if it would happen. Joining the Justice League would go a long way towards cementing his friend's reputation as a Superhero. He looked over to Megamind proudly, eager to congratulate him on this unexpected turn of events, but the words died in his throat when he saw the furious look on his boss's face as he scowled at the ring Super Man had given him.

"Sir? Are you alright?" Minion asked worriedly.

Megamind looked up at him and nodded, his face relaxing slightly. "Yes, Minion, I'm fine," he said, tossing the ring on the ground. "Take me back to the Heroic Lair." He started towards the car, then paused. "I don't like that one either," he informed Minion quietly, before climbing into the passenger's side of the invisible car.

Minion paused, confused at Megamind's melancholy attitude, before turning to look at the discarded ring. After a moment's hesitation, he reached down and picked it up.

"Minion!" Megamind called impatiently, causing the fish to jump. Minion looked up, but to his relief, Megamind was staring straight ahead, and had not seen what he'd done.

"Coming Sir," Minion replied, putting the ring into his pocket for safe keeping before climbing into the car and heading back towards their lair.


	3. Chapter 3

**Officially, Megamind doesn't seem to have a real name. However, that does not bother the world of Fan Fiction one bit! As such, I have several names to choose from, but the most popular so far is Syx, which was first thought up by SilverShepherd. I like the name Syx; it's definitely my favorite 'real name' for Megamind.**

 **Disclaimer: Megamind, Roxanne Ritchi, and Minion belong to Dreamworks. All other heroes belong to DC comics and Warner Bros. As to Mr. Fluffers, however, I have to admit the blame is all mine.**

Roxanne Ritchi was the only person allowed full access to Megamind's lair besides the genius himself and his fishy sidekick. She was also the only one who knew where it was, even though it _was_ the only building in Metro City with a fake observatory on the roof. It's important to point that out because, even though one of Megamind's most recent and infamous plots before abandoning his evil ways had involved a fake observatory, of all the citizens of Metro City, only Roxanne had managed to put two-and-two together and find Megamind's hideout. The average citizen in a city protected by super heroes was incredibly _stupid_ , as a general rule. Not that Megamind complained; he did enjoy privacy after all, and if they weren't stupid, he probably wouldn't get any.

Roxanne had a habit of popping in and out of his Unnamed Lair uninvited, as she had a standing invitation, because neither Megamind nor Minion cared if she came in whenever she wished, and she secretly loved the way Megamind's entire face lit up whenever she showed up unexpectedly. Roxanne would never quite be able to explain just how her boyfriend could be so childishly excited over something as simple as a surprise visit, but it was one of the things she so loved about him, and she secretly hoped that would never change.

The Lair of Currently Undecided Designation had a type of mood around it, reflecting the current mood of the inhabitants. Despite its gloomy interior, whenever Megamind was in a good mood, Roxanne could practically feel good vibes surrounding the immediate area. When he was in a bad mood…well, Roxanne could tell as soon as she stepped in the door.

Today, considering the stillness and uncomfortable nervous feeling surrounding the Lair of Temporarily Undetermined Title, Roxanne knew that something was greatly bothering her boyfriend. Frowning, the reporter walked towards the back, where Megamind was watching the monitors in his leather office chair. (He got a kick out of spinning it all the way around like a merry-go-round, another of his quirks she loved, though today he wasn't doing any such thing.) He hadn't noticed her, instead he seemed preoccupied with a thick book, and quite content, but she still knew something was bothering him.

"Well, Minion," he was saying, "it's been a year now, and as we still haven't come up with a suitable name for our Lair, I've finally decided to buy a These-a-sauroos."

"I think that's a Thesaurus, Sir," Minion pointed out gently.

"Yes, yes, of course," Megamind agreed absentmindedly, flipping through the pages. "Ah, here it is, all the words that pretty much mean 'good.' I'm sure we'll find a suitable name here."

"I have absolute faith in you, Sir," Minion assured him, peering over his shoulder. "Uh, I didn't know that 'lily-white' was a synonym for good. I don't think I'd be entirely…comfortable, calling this place the Lily-White Lair."

"It _does_ seem to lack a certain…masculine flair," Megamind agreed. "Very well! We'll ignore that one."

"Oh, thank God," Minion sighed with obvious relief. Then he fidgeted nervously, as if trying to work up the nerve for something. Finally, he asked softly, "Sir, about today…"

"I _don't_ want to talk about it, Minion," Megamind snapped, shutting Minion up instantly.

Ok, that did it. Something was definitely up, and her Snoopy Reporter Skills were demanding she investigate. Deciding to make her presence known, she cleared her throat slightly and said, "Don't want to talk about what?"

"GAAH!" was the decidedly un-heroic reply of the Defender of Metro City as he jumped slightly, which made him slide out of his chair and onto the ground with a loud, ungraceful _plunk._ He twisted around, his bright green eyes wide and shocked, until they fell upon Roxanne's own baby blues. Within a moment, his whole face lit up on seeing her and he was on his feet, happily babbling nonsense about how great it was she was here, have a seat, she must be tired, and would she like anything to drink?

Roxanne smiled and resisted the urge to roll her eyes—he really was just so cute sometimes!—and sat down in the chair he had offered her.

"So, Roxanne," Megamind said eagerly, though somewhat more calmly than before, "what brings you here today?"

"Nothing much," Roxanne replied easily, making herself comfortable in the big leather chair. "I just heard that the hero of Metropolis decided to drop in for a visit." It had been all over the news; Roxanne had actually had to cover the story. Everyone was more than a little curious as to why Super Man had decided to come to Metro City, presumably with the idea of talking to Megamind. The theories ranged from everything from Super Man coming to give Megamind congratulations on changing his life around, to the idea that Megamind had backslidden to his evil ways and Superman had come to arrest him for it.

Roxanne knew it couldn't possibly be the latter, but she _was_ worried that maybe Super Man might have come to give Megamind a stern warning/lecture on the difference between right and wrong, and that he'd better watch his step. Her boyfriend was so sensitive, and he'd been trying so hard to do the right thing, that such a display of no-confidence from one of the world's most prominent heroes would devastate him.

Megamind's face dropped and she could tell he was entering a depressing brood over the day's events, and anger towards the Man of Steel flared deep within her stomach. Whatever had happened, it had obviously not been good, and how _dare_ that holier-than-thou boy scout think he had _any_ right to judge Megamind, who was _obviously_ the kindest, least-evil person in this or any other universe, and she was definitely intending to go give him a piece of her mind later…

But right now, it was definitely time to do serious damage control, before her boyfriend's self-destructive tendencies convinced him he was no good again. "Hey," she said gently, putting a hand on Megamind's shoulder. "What happened today, Syx?"

He perked up and gave her a small smile at the sound of his real name; then he shook his head and sighed. "It's…hard to explain," he admitted.

"Super Man asked Sir to join the Justice League, Ms. Ritchi," Minion supplied, knowing that if anyone could get to the bottom of what was bothering Megamind, it would be his girlfriend.

"Join the Justice League?" Roxanne's eyes sparkled. "That's incredible, Syx! The Justice League is one of the most prominent superhero groups in the world, and they did say they were expanding. This is great news!" This would go a long way towards cementing Megamind's reputation as a hero; and more people would be willing to forgive and forget the past if the greatest hero organization in the known world had accepted him as a member.

"I'm not joining," Megamind replied, crossing his arms in a way that made him look like a defiant child.

Roxanne gaped at him, her shock overcoming her desire to giggle at the way he was sticking out his lower lip in a pout. "Why not?" she demanded once her voice came back.

"Because…because," he seemed to slump. "Roxanne, can't you see why I was given this offer? They don't trust me; they just want to have a legitimate excuse to get me out of the way. I'll go up there on a space station full of super heroes and it'll be just like my old shool days." Megamind's time in school had given him a lot of painful memories; he had been ignored, rejected, and even outright bullied, many times by the so-called 'hero' of the city, then known as Metro Boy; and it was there he had been told he was no good so often that he had decided he must be destined to be a villain. "I don't…I don't think I could handle that again."

Roxanne's eyes softened and she pulled Megamind into a tight hug, her throat constricting when he clung to her as if she was the only person on earth who cared one lick about him at all; and it got worse when she suddenly realized that, besides Minion, she actually _was._ He really needed to make friends, if only to be able to comprehend the fact that more than two people could like him instead of outright hating or merely tolerating him. And while there would undoubtedly be people in the League who wouldn't be able to see past his past (no pun intended), there would be people like that no matter what he did, and with his complete lack of social skills, the easiest way for him to make friends would be with other heroes who at least had something in common with him and who could put the past behind them. Joining the League would be good for him.

And she thought she knew just the way to make him see that.

"Syx," she said at length, once he seemed to calm down and wasn't clutching her quite as tightly as before, "are you refusing to join the Justice League because you don't believe they'll accept you as a hero, or is it because Super Man reminds you too much of Metro Man?"

"I…what?" he looked stunned, as if he hadn't even considered that before now.

"I know Metro Man when out of his way to make your life miserable and ruin your chances of ever having any sort of friendships when you were in school," Roxanne explained. "But Superman is not Metro Man, and shouldn't you at least give the League a chance to prove that they're not up to something to further ruin your chances of being considered a hero? What if they really do just want to help you learn the hero business? You got to admit, Metro Man really isn't such a good example of heroism, and he was the only hero you knew anything about."

"I…" his face narrowed in concentration, then realization dawned. "You're right, Roxanne," he admitted. "I didn't want to join because I had a preconceived, unfounded idea that they're up to no good. You'd think that I, of all people, would know not to judge a book by its cover, right?" Well, at least he had the strength of character to admit he was wrong and look slightly ashamed of himself.

"You should," Roxanne agreed, willing to give him constructive criticism when he really did need it.

"I should at least reserve judgment until I give them a chance to prove themselves," Megamind continued, his mind already wheeling as he paced around the lair, making plans, not plots, plans. "I need to call Super Man and…oh, crab nuggets! I threw away the ring!"

"I have it right here, Sir," Minion replied happily, handing it to him.

Megamind snatched it up and gave Minion a grateful smile. "Minion, you fantastic fish you!" he told his friend happily. "Now, let's get this thing open and find that transmitter, shall we?"

It was a simple matter for him to contact the Watchtower, where someone acknowledged his desire to join and informed him that he needed to keep the transmitter in his ear at all times, and that he would be transported to the Watchtower at 12:00 tomorrow afternoon his time to receive an orientation and an official license declaring him as a member of the Justice League. Now, all he had to do was wait.

 **The Next Day, 11:45 A.M….**

"Sir, are you sure that you don't want me to drive?" Minion asked anxiously from his seat in the Invisible Car. Megamind was currently in the driver's seat, and they seemed to be driving aimlessly around the city. They were also violating numerous traffic laws, but they both figured it was ok because nobody could see them. Since they were invisible. Hey, old habits died hard. They're _trying_ ok? Cut them some slack.

"Oh, don't be such a mamma fish, Minion," Megamind said excitedly. "We're petrol-ing; if we drive around the block long enough a building will explode and we'll have something to do."

"Are you sure that's how it works?" In spite of how hard he tried, Minion couldn't quite keep the disbelief out of his voice.

"Of course I'm sure! I saw it on T.V. once," Megamind replied. He still hadn't quite managed to grasp the fact that some things on T.V. were fictitious; as the television he had had in the Metro City Prison had only allowed him to watch P.B.S., CNN, the Weather Channel, and the local news station. Much of the information on those stations were entirely true; so he had somehow gotten it into his head that all T.V. programs had the same level of integrity.

Minion wasn't _quite_ sure that was how these things worked, but he reasoned that in a matter of minutes Megamind would have the at his disposal the wisdom and experience of many, many veterans of goodness that were much more knowledgeable about such things, and if there were any errors in Syx's reasoning, _they_ could point it out.

"Help! Please, somebody help me!" the sound of a small child on the verge of tears cried over on the side of the road. Looking immensely pleased, Megamind quickly stopped the car on the side of the road, outside of the immediate range of traffic, and climbed out.

"See Minion? Someone needs us already, and we found out because of our Petrol!" the alien said excitedly, rushing off towards the little girl.

"I _think_ the word you're looking for is 'patrol," Minion pointed out, but he was ignored.

Megamind quickly composed himself and reminded himself to act heroic as he made his way to the sobbing little girl, who he asked very kindly, "and what seems to be the problem, miss?"

The little girl looked up at him, then, her eyes lighting up as she recognized him, she pointed to a nearby tree and sobbed, "Mr. Fluffers won't come down!"

Megamind frowned and looked up the tree, where he saw a little grey kitten clutching a branch for dear life, its fur arched as it meowed pitifully. "That's it?" he blurted out, surprised. "Your _cat_ is stuck in a _tree_?"

The child nodded, giving him big, adorable, anime sad eyes. Megamind couldn't find it in his heart to look at those diabolically cute eyes and tell the child he wouldn't save her cat, so he sighed and pulled out his de-gun, intending to dehydrate the animal so she could pick up the cube off the ground and rehydrate the cat, who would be none the worse for wear for falling out a tree while dehydrated.

The only problem was, the child started to scream and pulled his arms down. "Don't shoot Mr. Fluffers!" she begged.

Megamind wondered if he could properly explain what he wanted to do, but decided that he was on a deadline (he now had only 8 minutes left before he would be headed to the Watchtower) and needed to get this over with quickly. "Alright then," he conceded. "Wait here and I'll climb up and get Mr. Fluffers."

The girl gave him a big, happy grin as he somehow managed to shimmy up the tree, eventually managing to make it to the branch where the cat was perched. He reached out and grabbed the cat—and to his surprise, it bit him!

"Ow!" he yelped, retracting his bitten hand and instinctively popping it into his mouth. He sucked on it for a second, then he glared at the animal, who was currently hissing at him. "You stupid cat, I'm trying to help you!" he told it angrily, reaching out and grabbing it again, trying to pull it away from the branch, being careful of it's teeth.

The cat yowled, then suddenly let go of the branch and twisted its body around, scratching at Megamind wildly. He instinctively let go of the tree with his other hand and wrapped it around the kitten as well, trying to hold it in such a way as to stop the scratching, but this caused him to lose his balance and he fell out of the tree, headed straight towards the ground. "Minion!" he shrieked, holding the cat tightly for dear life.

"Sir!" Minion gasped, trying to position himself in a way to catch Megamind when he reached the ground. Fortunately the clock reached 12:00, and the Watchtower's systems automatically locked on to all the transmitters given to those who wanted to join the League, and Megamind teleported away before he reached the ground. Unfortunately, as he had still been clutching Mr. Fluffers, this meant the _dear_ little kitty was teleported with him.

All Megamind knew was, instead of falling flat on his back on the hard sidewalk that he had been aiming for, he suddenly fell flat on his back on the platform of the teleporter the Watchtower boasted. "Ooph!" he gasped as he hit the ground, the impact causing him to release his hold on Mr. Fluffers, who took off like a bolt of lightning.

The blue alien sat up, shook his head, then paled as he realized the cat was loose on the Watchtower. "Oh, no!" he groaned, knowing he'd better restrain the cat before it caused any problems and he was blamed. He sat up, then his eyes widened as he realized he was looking directly at the original 6 members of the Justice League, who were near the platform with him, and a blonde haired man with a blonde goatee who was dressed in a tacky green Robin Hood-esque costume, complete with a bow and several arrows hanging on his back. Megamind briefly remembered that his name was Green Arrow, or something similar. Arrow was currently blocking Mr. Fluffers' path to freedom with his legs. He looked incredulous.

"Is that a cat?" he asked.

Mr. Fluffers snarled and suddenly jumped on his leg, clinging to the fabric as its forelegs scratched at him repeatedly, hissing, biting and growling. Green Arrow shrieked and fell backwards, kicking his leg wildly. "Get it off!" he yelled.

"Ah!" Megamind yelped, jumping up and trying to figure out how to help Green Arrow without getting clobbered by his flailing limbs. "Don't worry, I can fix this," he assured the screaming hero.

"Get it off! Get it off! For the love of God, get it off me!"

Perhaps sensing that the situation had gotten out of hand, Super Man quickly reached down and grabbed Mr. Fluffers, and the cat instantly started to claw him, but luckily he was invincible and so it did not hurt him. The Man of Steel quickly started to pet the petrified kitty, calming it down. Once it stopped trying to kill him, he calmly handed it back to Megamind, who had suddenly realized that at _least_ fifty more heroes were behind him and had seen the whole episode. Superman noted that he turned a dark violet color when he blushed.

"It was stuck in a tree," he said sheepishly by way of explanation.

Superman nodded, trying to salvage the situation as best as he could. "It happens to all of us," he whispered to the alien, who simply stared at the ground, not quite believing that anyone besides him botched rescue attempts for kitty cats who then ferociously mauled other heroes.

It was obviously with great relief that he stepped off the platform and disappeared as best he could to the back of the crowd. The kitten was, oddly enough, purring for him now, and he absentmindedly pet its fur as he tried to stop himself from crying. That had been every bit as bad his attempts to be good had been back in school. Whenever he tried to do anything good, everything blew up in his face. He never should have come here.

Super Man had stepped up to a high platform and had begun to speak. "Each of you bring something different to the table," he was saying. "Strength, speed, stealth, whatever. But we're all equal in at least one way: all of us are willing to make the sacrifices a hero needs to make. Even the ultimate one. Since there are so many of us…"

Megamind tried to focus on what Super Man was saying, but still, what was the point? He would be out of the Justice League's hair as soon as he could make a retreat without anyone noticing him, and they wouldn't be bothered with him again.

"Psst."

The alien jumped, a bit startled, and turned to see a bizarre looking hero; he was wearing a red jumpsuit that was actually sort of similar to a woman's red one-piece swimsuit, V-chested with several lines of string seeming to tie the sides of the V together, but one still got a decent view of his chest. His sleeves were long, but he had nothing covering his legs except short, slipper-like shoes. Large goggles covered his eyes, his hair was short and black, and his bangs were styled in a little wave. The oddest thing about him, though, was that his arm was twice as long as it should have been, seemingly stretched to an unnatural length in order to reach Megamind's shoulder to give it a short tap. His arm seemed to have the consistency of rubber.

"What-" Megamind gaped, only for the man's hand to cover his mouth. The man's other hand held a finger to his own mouth, in the universal gesture for quiet. He gave Megamind a grin and motioned for him to follow him, which, having nothing better to do, he did.

Once the hero had made it to what he deemed as a 'Safe' place to talk, he turned and grinned. "Hi," he said. "I'm Plastic Man. You've heard of me, right?"

Megamind had to shake his head no. Plastic Man seemed to deflate a bit, but he perked up again.

"Oh, well, I _am_ sort of new and all. I can't tell you how glad I was when you transported up, I thought I was going to be the only reformed crook here and _that_ would have tanked."

Megamind's eyes widened, showing his interest in this new information. "You were a villain?"

"Oh yeah, I used the name Eel O'Brian," he gave Megamind a semi-proud smirk. "You know me now, right?"

"I can't say I've ever heard of you," Megamind admitted. Seeing Plastic Man visibly start pouting, he added quickly, "but I never paid much attention to things that didn't involve Metro Man and Metrocity until I became a hero. Unless you were a criminal in the past six months, I wouldn't have bothered to find out about you."

"Oh!" pleased to take this excuse as the reason that Megamind didn't know of him, rather than have to admit it was because he had been a fourth-rate thug and was now a fourth-rate hero, Plastic Man nodded happily. (Fourth rate, is of course, two ratings below second rate.) "Yeah, that's probably what it was. That was pretty funny the way you got the cat to attack Green Arrow, by the way."

Megamind felt his cheeks go warm. "That was an accident," he said defensively. "I didn't mean to…"

"Hey, hey, it's cool; that's your alibi, and I got your back," Plastic Man said easily with a grin. "We Reformies gotta look out for each other, you know?"

"Reformies?" Megamind wondered aloud.

"Yeah you know, Reformed Supervillains?"

"Oh," Megamind looked like he didn't quite get it at first, but slowly comprehension dawned on him and he gave Plastic Man an eager, delighted look. He was, in a strange, roundabout way, offering to be Megamind's friend and ally. "Yes, yes, we certainly do. Watch each other's back, I mean."


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok, as a superhero, we all know Megamind needs a rogues gallery, same as every other hero, right? Let it be known that I am a major OCaphobe, so instead of just making up a bunch of villains, I spent countless hours trying to find out anything about the Doom Syndicate, and I must say, WHY THE CRAP WON'T ANYBODY BOTHER TO DO SO MUCH AS PUT UP A DECENT PICTURE AT THE VERY LEAST? Gah, you'd think nobody CARED or something! Anyhoo, I did find references to 4 members, (and if anyone can tell me what Lady Doppler looks like I will be eternally grateful) but all personality information seems to be purely speculation. I was bummed at first, but one of the pictures I saw of one of Megamind's villains intrigued me. I saw potential to make this one an arch nemesis, a criminal who is the exact polar opposite of Megamind, the way Joker is to Batman, or Lex Luthor is to Superman, or Ebon is to Static. I have to admit, I did have to write this villain's personality from scratch as there is NOTHING to go on other than a picture; but I hope I made him an acceptable arch foe for Megamind. Who is this villain? You'll have to read to find out. BWAHAHAHA!**

 **Disclaimer: Megamind and his arch foe are copyright Dreamworks, and everyone else is copyright DC comics and Warner Bros.**

"You know what we should do? We should make a club," Plastic Man said absentmindedly as he and Megamind sipped Hawaiian Punch at the tables in the cafeteria. "A really cool club, for all the reformed super villains in the League."

Megamind gave his new friend a look that was a cross between incredulous and amused. "Can we form a club in what's basically a club of super heroes?"

"Why not? I heard the Flash is doing it," Plastic Man said. "He's forming a legion of redheaded super heroes, I saw him trying to recruit Hawk earlier."

"Oh, really?" Megamind smirked at the image that gave him. "I don't think I'd care to join that particular group."

Plastic Man couldn't help but laugh at the statement, and as he had been taking a drink of his Hawaiian Punch at the time, invariably meant it came out his nose. "Gah," he yelped, wiping his face and coughing a bit. "You did that on purpose!"

"I did not," Megamind insisted. "But it _was_ pretty fun to watch."

Plastic Man scowled at him, then grinned and shrugged it off. "So as I was saying, we should totally make an Order of the Reformed Super Villains or something cool like that."

"I suppose the idea has merit," Megamind admitted. "So how many reformed super villains are in the League?"

"Including us?" Plastic Man considered, as if trying to add up the number. "Two," he finally admitted.

"Oh," Megamind sighed. "I don't see how we can have a club with only two members."

"Trust me! This'll be awesome! And Megacat there can be our official mascot."

"What?" Megamind started, then looked down to where the little grey kitten was still purring softly in his arms, seemingly sound asleep. "Its name is Mr. Fluffers, not Megacat," he informed Plastic Man. "And it's not mine."

"Riiight," Plastic Man snickered. "Um, you do realize that 'Mr. Fluffers' is a female, don't you?"

Megamind had indeed noticed that, but he merely shrugged. "I will inform the owner of that posthaste," he replied dryly. "And I'm pretty sure you need more than two people to make a club."

"Fine. But it won't be as cool as a Reformed Villains Only club if we let just _any_ superhero join," Plastic Man warned, looking around the room. Finally he stretched out his arm and wrapped it tightly around a blond haired hero in a red-and-gold costume, yanking him over to their table.

"Whoa—hey!" the hero protested angrily.

"Want to join our new club?"

The hero looked at them skeptically. "What is it?" he asked.

"The Order of Reformed Super Villains Plus One," Plastic Man replied without the slightest hesitation.

The hero considered. "…You think the members'll be famous?" he asked finally.

"Heck yeah!" Plastic Man enthused.

The man perked up at that. "Great! I'm in." He pulled out a chair and straddled it, holding out his hand to Megamind. "You're Megamind, right? Of course you are. Nice cape, by the way. And you…" he looked Plastic Man over, the look on his face obviously stating he had no idea who the man was. "Um, nice swimsuit, I guess. Anyway, the two of you look like you could use some Star Power. You guys can even mooch on my fame if you want, y'know, become famous by association…you have no idea who I am, do you?"

Megamind and Plastic Man both shook their heads no, Megamind briefly wondering what it was with the heroes he met who wanted to know if he knew them. The hero sighed, then snapped his fingers. "Skeets!"

A small, black-and-gold robot hovered over to them. Something about its design struck Megamind as hauntingly familiar, but he couldn't quite but his finger on it.

Skeets quickly created a holographic program heralding the heroism and a brief origin of the hero—named Booster Gold—who apparently was from the 25th century and gone back in time to preserve the future by fighting super villains. (According to the promo, anyway.) Once it was over, there was an awkward silence as Booster Gold posed in a heroic way and Megamind wondered exactly what the appropriate response for this was and how he was supposed to give said response.

"You have a promotional video follow you around?" Plastic Man asked finally.

Booster Gold's jaw dropped, and for a moment, he looked offended. "Skeets isn't just a promotional video!"

"He's right," Skeets spoke up in a cheery voice. "I'm more of a beloved sidekick."

"And anyway, that's not important now." Booster was back to his cheery, somewhat self-absorbed self. "The point is, you got yourself a club member. I'll see you around." He stood back up then looked over to his robotic sidekick. "Let's get out of here, Skeets. Fame won't find itself, you know."

"Right away Sir," Skeets replied cheerily, as the two of them walked (or in Skeets' case hovered) off.

"Well, that was officially the worst decision I ever made," Plastic Man said grumpily. "What a glory hound!"

"He didn't seem so bad to me," Megamind admitted. Sure, Booster Gold had a bit of an ego, but then so did he and—to be perfectly honest—so did Plastic Man. Booster had seemed to accept him as a fellow hero quite easily, and had actually seemed pretty pleased to meet him. And anyone who was so obviously attached to Skeets as Booster Gold was couldn't be all bad. Megamind admired people who could see machines with Artificial Intelligence as something besides mindless robot servants, as they obviously were not. He still felt that there was something familiar about Skeets though, something he should recognize, though he was certain he had never met the little robot before in his life.

"Trust me, that guy's going to cause huge problems for everyone later on," Plastic Man predicted sagely.

"Megamind, come with me." Super Man's voice cut into the conversation abruptly, and the two looked over at the end of the room where he was standing. "There's a situation in Metropolis."

Megamind's eyes widened and he jumped up, knocking the table over onto Plastic Man in his haste.

"Whoa!" Plastic Man yelped, his midsection flattening to accommodate the bulk of the table without hurting him.

"Sorry, Plas," Megamind said guiltily, but perked up with Plastic Man gave him a grin and a thumbs up, before he turned and quickly rushed after Super Man, who had already left the room.

* * *

It seemed a group of Super Villains calling themselves the Secret Society of Super Villains (Not an original name—Megamind knew for a fact that at least ten other groups of villains had called themselves by the unimaginative moniker) had shown up in Metropolis and were creating mass chaos. As the heroes, it fell to the League to stop them before someone got hurt, or worse.

Besides Megamind, the Man of Steel had selected a young man named Firestorm, a young Caucasian male with flaming orange hair (meaning: his hair was literally fire) and a yellow and orange outfit, whose powers allowed him to change the molecular structure of non-organic materials, allowing him to turn them into something else. (For example, he could make a pound of lead turn into a pound of gold—or a pound of feathers if he wished). There was also a heroine who called herself Ice, a rather unoriginal name that summed up her powers nicely. Her costume consisted of a blue-and-white leotard with an iceberg insignia on the chest, and she had short, snow-white hair and ice blue eyes. Megamind couldn't help but wonder if she dyed her hair or if white was actually its natural color, and Fire, a Latino woman who could turn her body into bright emerald green flames and shoot said green flames from her hands, as well as having the ability of flight.

All three of them were obvious novices in the super business, much, much more so than Megamind, who actually had a good twenty years of experience, although most of that was in the villainy department. It was ridiculously easy to tell they reacted cautiously around Superman and any other veteran heroes, as if they were worried that the slightest misstep would cost them their place in the League and they would be booted to the curb. Megamind wondered if perhaps he, too, was that transparently terrified of messing up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that had seemingly fallen into his lap.

Megamind was the last member of the team to make it to the teleporter, and he mumbled some sort of apology for taking so long as he scrambled to get into position.

"I will take care of that for you, Megamind," Martian Manhunter said suddenly, pointing to where Mr. Fluffers was still curled in Megamind's hands. The alien turned Fuchsia again, this time with the realization that he had actually been about to take a little kitten into a battle field, and he thankfully handed the half-asleep cat to the Martian, who started to stroke its fur absentmindedly.

"Thanks," Megamind muttered just before the Transporter kicked in and they were instantly transported to Superman's home city.

The place was a war zone. The criminals had completely demolished downtown and were showing no signs of slowing down. The instant he became aware of his surroundings, Megamind took up a defensive position and readied his De-Gun. Fire powered up and took to the air, heat from her suddenly emerald-green body making the air around her cackle audibly. Ice's hands became covered in the material of her namesake, sort of an impromptu boxing glove, and Firestorm dropped into a fighting position. Super Man made no such preparations, merely taking to the air and rushing head-on into one of the villains currently demolishing the city, and with that rather impulsive attack (as far as Megamind was concerned—he couldn't _possibly_ have any sort of plan!) the rest of his teammates rushed headfirst into the battle.

Whether this was true for normal humans or not he didn't know, but Megamind's mind allowed him to identify and remember the powers and/or abilities of each of the villains he currently faced within mere seconds. Other heroes might apparently be content with simply coming in and hitting things, but he always preferred to know who he was dealing with, and what potential threats were so he could counteract them. It was a good thing he had spent hours looking up and researching as many known super villains as he could once he became a hero just in case any decided to come to Metro City to spread their evil. He would have hated to be unprepared; and it was coming in handy now.

Fire had cornered a villain who called himself Floronic Man, a plant/human hybrid, with skin resembling bark and hair resembling leaves, with the powers to merge with and mentally control plant life. Megamind wasn't too worried about him; he hadn't met the plant yet that could stand against fire, even if it was an unnatural shade of green instead of the normal reddish-orange.

The one Super Man had tackled went by the name Blockbuster, who had superhuman strength, agility, endurance, and resistance to physical and energy attacks. However, he also mentally debilitated, with the mind of a small child, albeit an evilly inclined small child. Megamind hoped he wouldn't be needed to take him down; the thought of attacking Blockbuster almost felt like contemplating the idea of punching a three-year-old in the face as hard as he could; it just felt evil somehow and he'd had quite enough of feeling evil to last him a lifetime.

Ice had pared off with the criminal contortionist known as Rag Doll; who dressed like—you guessed it—a rag doll and whose only powers were the fact that he was triple-jointed and could bend his body into unimaginable—and often downright disturbing if he felt the situation called for it—shapes.

Firestorm was going hand-to-hand with a criminal known as the Rainbow Raider, who's costume featured all seven colors of the rainbow and who had a special pair of goggles that allowed him to create solid beams of rainbow light that could be used offensively, or merely as a slide to glide on. He also had the ability to change people's emotions by changing their color—for example, red would make someone become irrationally angry, and blue would cause one to become depressed. Ironically enough, Megamind recalled that the Rainbow Raider was color blind.

This left Megamind to deal with the final member of the team, who, Megamind had to admit, he hadn't met before. He was a purple skeleton that wore a wide-brimmed hat with a feather in it, a purple button shirt that was unbuttoned at the chest, a fur-lined overcoat that reached to his knees, black pants, a belt with a large golden circle buckle, and had a purple walking stick that seemed to be more for style than any actual need to use it. If anything, he looked like a throwback from the Disco era. Megamind was a little put out that he ended up paired up with the _one_ criminal he knew nothing about, but that couldn't be helped now.

Opting for the direct approach, Megamind brought up his de-gun and fired at the mysterious villain, who didn't even turn towards him as he brought up his staff, which, to Megamind's shock, deflected the dehydrating beam with ease. The villain finally turned his head slowly, dark sunglasses hiding his eyes, and he gave a cruel sounding chuckle at the flabbergasted look on the blue alien's face.

"Well, well, if it isn't Megamind," the villain said in a low voice. "The grooviest cat this side of villainy, until you took up with the fuzz. That was bogus, man."

"I tend to see it as an excellent change of career choice," Megamind replied easily. "And hasn't anyone told you that Disco is dead?"

"Far out man! Sounds you have something in common, then." The criminal smiled, and suddenly the area around Megamind exploded into a variety of patterns, and the sidewalk he was on uprooted itself and started to attack him.

"Oh, geez!" Megamind yelped, starting backwards, shooting at the sidewalk with his dehydration gun, which had no effect. Panicking, the hero scrambled backwards, trying to keep one step ahead of the world that that gone crazy, as other common items found on the street (e.g.: fire hydrants, lampposts, trash cans, vending carts, etc.) also came to life and were trying to attack him.

In the background, the new villain laughed menacingly and started to—what else?—monologue. "The name's Psycho Delic, my main man, and I'm the one who's gonna put you on ice!"

Even as he dodged a manhole cover that had nearly taken his head off, Megamind couldn't help but quip, "Ice melts easily enough under the warm sunshine of justice, Psycho Delic!"

"Man, that's weak sauce," Psycho Delic just shook his head. "I don't aim to play no games."

"You should, that's part of the fun of being a villain," Megamind pointed out. "Just about the only good thing that came with the job."

"Dream on, man, I got some bad ideas to toss at the town," Psycho Delic rebutted. "I got schemes that'll make you scream, dig?"

"Now, that's just creepy," Megamind muttered as his vision exploded with psychedelic patterns again and now the buildings themselves were closing in on him. He braced himself for impact as they fell on him and—he felt nothing.

"What?" he looked around, realizing that the buildings had faded away and more were coming towards him. His eyes lit up with realization. "They're not real—just illusions. And illusions can't hurt you…"

"Maybe not, but I can," the purple menace said, _right_ in Megamind's ear. The hero gasped, turned, and brought his arm up just in time to block a blow from Psycho Delic's cane. His arm throbbed from the blow, but his head was safe, which was a good thing.

Relying on his instincts, Megamind quickly pulled his right hand back and punched Psycho Delic in the gut, then twirled and nailed him in the head with a roundhouse kick. The villain let out an 'Oomph!' and stumbled back. He looked up at Megamind with a sinister, disturbingly excited grin.

"Looks like you're not such a spaz after all," he said eagerly. "Alright then, to the max!"

He vanished in a puff of purple smoke, his laughter echoing around Megamind as the hero desperately tried to defend against a menace he could no longer see. Suddenly, a hard kick to the small of his back caught him off-guard and he toppled over, his cape covering his head as he rolled. He desperately pushed it out of his eyes, bracing for more blows while in his weakened state, but none come. He finally managed to stand again, ignoring the ache in his back and his elbows (he'd scraped himself pretty hard against the ground when he rolled) and realized that Psycho Delic had disappeared yet again.

"Show yourself!" Megamind challenged, growing frustrated.

In the next instant, the criminal filled his gaze as he reappeared right in front of him. "BAM!" Psycho Delic cried in glee, punching Megamind in the gut and vanishing again.

Megamind gasped, trying to reclaim the breath that had been stolen, knew that he had to think fast if he wanted to beat his opponent. Psycho Delic had to have a weakness; _everyone_ had a weakness. He just had to find it.

Even though he could not see Psycho Delic unless he was attacking, he could hear the villain quite well, which made him wonder whether the villain really _was_ teleporting or if it was just another illusion. "You ain't no villain, bro," Psycho Delic informed him.

"Yes, I gave that up, the medical plan was atrocious," Megamind quipped dryly.

"No, I mean you never _were_ a villain. As a crook, you were a bummer, man. You were completely bogus."

"So sorry I never met your approval," Megamind replied, before Psycho Delic appeared and kicked him in the side of his head before vanishing again. Megamind was hurting _all over_ now, but he was beginning to see a pattern to the seemingly random attacks. If he could just keep Psycho Delic distracted…

"Oh, you do, you're the bomb…as the hero," the criminal replied, temporarily confusing Megamind, but the alien quickly recomposed himself. "You just don't dig evil."

"Evil never wins," Megamind assured his opponent quickly. "Where there's evil, good always rises up to challenge it."

"Good never wins either," Psycho Delic rebutted. "Because where there's good, evil always rises up to oppose it. And brother, you haven't been given any good opposition."

"Must be my awesome presence," Megamind said tauntingly, tensing himself as he waited. There! He reacted the instant he saw purple smoke surround him, a sure sign that Psycho Delic was about to strike again, and doubled up his fist and punched blindly at his right. He was quite pleased when he felt the form of Psycho Delic's head meeting said fist; and the villain collapsed down to the ground. "Game _over_ Psycho Delic. And now it's time for you to learn the hard way that bad guys always lose," he gloated.

Psycho Delic's glasses had cracked, revealing blood red eyes that were alight with excitement. "Groovy," he said approvingly. "You and me, we gonna be tight. But you know what the most rad thing about heroes is?"

"Our dashing good looks?" Megamind asked with a smirk.

"You're so much fun to _mess_ with, man."

All the images that Psycho Delic had implanted into Megamind's mind vanished instantly, allowing him to see the real city, and realize that his allies were still fighting; he had actually _forgotten_ that he had allies, and he never forgot anything. The hero gasped for a second, stumbling as he tried to regain his sense of where he was and what was happening around him. Psycho Delic vanished again, and reappeared inside of a burned-out building that had been trashed at some point during the battle, and Megamind shook his head a final time and looked up to where the criminal was smiling at him creepily. Next to him was a middle-aged woman who had been bound and gagged, tears leaking out of her fear-filled eyes. The criminal himself, was holding up a screaming child, no more than two years old at the most.

Megamind froze at the hostage situation, his mind already scheming ways to safely remove the woman and her baby before things took a turn for the worse. Psycho Delic seemed to realize this and his smile grew wider. He held the child up and stepped out of the building, and then, with the poise of a man playing a game with friends, cheerily called, "Catch!" as he tossed the toddler into the air.

Megamind shrieked and dove after the child, barely managing to catch him before he hit the concrete; the blue defender instinctively curled his body around the child and rolled when he hit the ground, to save the terrified little boy from any injuries. Once he stopped rolling, he sat up, clutching the sobbing toddler to his chest as he gawked at Psycho Delic in horror. "You're _insane_!" he spluttered.

"Can you dig it?" Psycho Delic laughed. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am bookin'!" with that, he left the battlefield in a puff of smoke.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything, except the plotline, a random citizen or two, and Mr. Fluffers.**

Megamind sat on the sidewalk for a long moment, still holding a sobbing, petrified toddler, staring off into space as his mind tried to reorient itself. The psychedelic illusions he had been subject to would have disoriented anyone, but his mind was much more advanced than that of a normal human. His mind was, pretty much, his only power per say, but it was an impressive one if one knew how to use it right. Besides his intellect, which was, quite frankly, the most amazing intellect on the planet (his IQ was at least 290, but he thought it might be higher as none of the tests he had taken even tried to calculate to a higher number), he remembered everything that he had ever experienced (although there _was_ an unaccounted blank space where the memories of the five hours directly following his birth that bothered him to no end when he had time to think about it). He could scheme, counter-plan, and make backup plans for any possible outcome of any given situation he found himself in, as well as a few highly unlikely and downright impossible outcomes for those same situations, just in case. He knew where every opponent he faced was at any given moment, simultaneously learning all their strengths and weaknesses within a five minute timeframe by observing them while they fought. He could even see a blow coming and calculate how badly it would injure him should it land based on speed and trajectory of said blow, all at the same time without hindering his reaction time so that he never slowed in his attacks and defense while he was thinking.

Normally, all these were a benefit to himself and a hindrance to those who might oppose him, but after experiencing such reality-warping illusions as Psycho Delic employed his brain was going haywire. His mind interpreted in the world in a way that used every miniscule detail around him to inform Megamind of what was happening, and those details had been abruptly changed and twisted, not once but twice within a matter of minutes, leaving him reeling, unable to process anything properly. What's more, he had a killer headache, which was really bad considering how much head he had.

Megamind moaned, covering his eyes with one hand, the other instinctively making soothing motions on the rescued toddler's back. A toddler who was seriously hampering his ability to breathe, considering the death grip he had on Megamind's neck. He had a very strong grip for a two-year-old.

Presently, Megamind realized that if the boy's strength did not diminish and if his body grew at the same rate Megamind had as he had gotten older, and the child ate a balanced diet filled with proper nutrition, and only got small to moderate amounts of exercise each day, and assuming he reached a height of 6'0", then in sixteen years his strength would be proportionate to…

He snapped out of the equation he had indivertibly started to solve, feeling greatly relieved that his temporary disorientation had been just that, temporary. He stood to his feet, stumbling a bit as his left leg protested his movements—it would definitely be bruised, but it was not broken, which was a relief—and half-walked, half-hobbled over to the building where the child's mother still was, still bound gagged, and freaking out. He tried to put the little boy down, but the kid wasn't having it and he had a death grip on his neck, so Megamind finally decided to heck with it and untied to mother quickly as he could, trying to breathe past the restricting clutches of the toddler.

The gag was no sooner out of the mother's mouth than she began to scream, and she didn't stop screaming. _That_ did wonders for his headache, but he stoically finished untying her arms and legs. Once freed, she jumped to her feet and—still screaming—grabbed her child and _yanked_ until his hands popped away from Megamind's neck, then she turned and ran as fast as she could, still screaming. Great, now he had whiplash, in addition to all his other war wounds. She had a nice set of pipes though. He bitterly wondered for a brief moment why nobody had ever screamed like that when he was rampaging through Metro City back in his evil days. But no, they wait until he's the good guy to scream whenever he comes around. Or maybe it was just because Metropolis was full of screamers, or something.

He was _really_ starting to ache. And he wasn't entirely certain if the battle was over yet, which reminded him, he needed to check up on his teammates ASAP. Megamind stumbled to a giant hole in the wall that the doorway of this particular building used to inhabit and leaned against it, squinting in the harsh sunlight as he looked for any signs of battle still raging. He noticed that by the position of the sun, he had been simply sitting there like a—what was the expression? A lame duck?—for nearly five minutes because he hadn't been able to get his bearings. That was unacceptable; he made a mental note to make something to protect himself from mental attacks.

He turned his eyes to the city itself and relearned where everyone was and what they were doing. Floronic Man was down, as was Rag Doll. Superman and Blockbuster were still battling each other; but Fire and Ice had backed the Man of Steel up and Blockbuster was weakening. Firestorm, however, seemed to be in a bit of trouble. He had surmised that Rainbow Raider's powers came from his goggles and had taken care of them accordingly (apparently by turning them into one of those Groucho Marx gag glasses, and as the Raider hadn't taken them off yet it caused quite a droll sight indeed) but not before Rainbow Raider had turned him a bright yellow. Yellow, apparently, made one insanely happy, and Firestorm was pretty much incapacitated with laughter. Really, he was laughing so hard he couldn't stand up and he seemed to be turning suffering from the inability to draw oxygen. If someone didn't help him soon, he was literally going to die laughing, if Rainbow Raider didn't find a way to off him first, and the criminal looked like he was considering the most efficient way to do so.

Megamind didn't give him the chance to do so; he quickly aimed his De-Gun at the Raider (the blue defender still couldn't believe he'd managed to hang on to the thing during his battle with Psycho Delic) and shot Rainbow Raider with it, turning the criminal into a little, harmless blue cube.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to help Firestorm, who now actually seemed to be turning a bit blue under all that yellow, although technically that should have made him green, but Megamind didn't have time to wonder at the artistic inconsistency. The most obvious way to fix the problem would be to use Rainbow Raider's goggles to change Firestorm back to normal, but the goggles, like the Raider, were dehydrated, and besides, they were now Groucho Marx glasses and no longer had the power to change Firestorm's color. In nanoseconds, Megamind had deduced dozens of potential ways to aid Firestorm, and selected the one that was most likely to help in this situation.

Quickly, he reached down and flipped the cartridge on his De-Gun until it read, "De-Moralize" and took aim at Firestorm, pausing briefly to pray that this would work. Normally, the De-Moralize setting turned the victims he shot into pacifistic drones, incapable of gaining the will to do anything more than stand in one spot and breathe. He was hoping that, since Firestorm was so abnormally happy, the gun would merely bring him back to his natural state of being. If not, then at least the other hero would be able to breath until Megamind could figure out a way to fix this mess.

Hoping that nobody would blame him overmuch if things turned out bad, he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger, engulfing Firestorm in a pinkish glow. To his relief, the hero stopped laughing and started to gasp for breath. But when a full minute passed and breathing was _all_ he did, Megamind started to panic, thinking he actually _had_ turned Firestorm into a drone. But presently, the still-completely-yellow hero pushed himself up to his knees and looked up to where Megamind was leaning against the doorway, still aiming his weapon in his general direction.

"Thanks," Firestorm said gratefully.

The blue alien gave him a tight smile, opened his mouth, and said, "Look out!"

Without hesitating, Firestorm dived out of the way just before a KO'd Blockbuster's body hit the ground where he had been sitting a mere moment before. Firestorm gawked at the behemoth, who would have certainly broken some part of his body, probably a very important part, had he landed on top of him. The still-yellow hero swallowed as his throat was suddenly very dry, and looked over at Megamind again. "Thanks. Again. I owe you."

"No problem," Megamind started to wave him off, but decided not to when his arm started to throb at the unwanted movement. His vision started to swim, and he continued. "You can repay me by not letting me hit the pavement when I pass out."

Firestorm looked at him bemusedly, obviously thinking that was a joke, but that faded into shock as Megamind's knees buckled and he started to collapse. Firestorm jumped up and flew towards the blue hero as fast as he could, and to Megamind's great relief, he did manage to catch him before he hit the pavement. That was the last thing he remembered before the lights went out all over the world…

* * *

He woke up in the medical bay on the Watchtower, hearing Plastic Man's voice demanding that the doctor on duty magically heal him instantly, on the grounds that 'you're a doctor, so do it!' He wished Plas wouldn't yell so loudly; his head was killing him. Oh, and he needed a waste basket post haste, because he'd feel really bad about barfing on the Justice League's carpet. It was a nice carpet.

Megamind opened his mouth to inform whomever would listen to him of this fact, but the only thing that escaped his mouth was a loud moan. In an instant, Plastic Man's head, dangling in mid-air on a long, snake-like neck, suddenly filled his vision.

"Megs! You ok?" Plastic Man asked worriedly.

"Bucket," Megamind murmured, desperately trying to swallow bile that was starting to fill his mouth. It kept coming back.

"Huh?" Plastic Man, blast him, gave him a blank look. Why the crud was his new friend so clueless?

"I think he needs to vomit," Firestorm piped up from…somewhere….Megamind couldn't see him, but he sounded close.

"Oh!" Plastic Man's elongated head looked around frantically, which just served to make Megamind that much more nauseous, and suddenly a stretched arm appeared, holding a wastebasket up to his mouth. Megamind grabbed it and leaned over the side of his bed until he stopped retching into it. He felt better once he had thrown up; he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned back against the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Plastic Man asked, and Megamind gawked at him in shock. He honestly couldn't tell? He couldn't possibly be that dense!

Maybe this was one of those soc-ee-all customs that Roxanne was teaching him. He would have to ask her once he got back to…whatever-he-was-going-to-call-it Lair (My Lair was currently topping his favorites list, but that might just be because it made his head throb when he thought too much right now). Right now though, he would simply answer the question and not overthink it. As previously stated, thinking made his head hurt.

"Tired. Hurting. Confused," he scrunched his nose up at that last one. "I didn't hurt _this_ much after fighting Tighten, and Psycho Delic didn't hit half as hard as Hal did."

"That's true, but Tighten didn't have psychic powers, did he?"

Megamind started at the sound, then mentally told himself not to get surprised again, because that hurt _._ He looked over to where the voice was and saw the Martian Manhunter, Super Man, and a man who looked like a doctor, white-lab coat and all. J'onn had asked the question.

Megamind shook his head. "No, he didn't even use his mind to think, much less launch mental attacks," he said with a smirk.

"Tell me, Megamind, do you have a habit of drinking or using narcotics?" the doctor asked.

Megamind blinked at him in disbelief. "Certainly not," he said, sounding offended at the thought of doing anything that could potentially impair his mental capacity.

The doctor nodded. "Then it looks like my hypothesis is correct. Your skin and skeletal structure is superior than humans, which lets you take more of a beating with less damage than a human could, but it seems your mind is extremely vulnerable. Psychic intrusions that would only disorient a normal human being have the potential to be life-threatening to you. From preliminary results, I would suggest that you stay away from alcohol and any drug stronger than aspirin; even small amounts of such drugs could also endanger your life."

Megamind's jaw dropped, his blue skin turning several shades lighter as he realized what was being implied and just how dangerous it had been for him to fight Psycho Delic.

He was _definitely_ going to be making something to block mental attacks.

* * *

An hour later Megamind was preparing to return to Metro City. To be honest, he still didn't feel 100% yet, but he refused to be kept in the medical bay overnight for observation, no matter how prudent it might be. He had responsibilities, and besides, if he didn't get back soon, he was positive Minion would take it upon himself to hijack one of NASA's space shuttles and come after him, and while Roxanne might talk him out of it, it was equally possible that she'd end up as a willing accomplice in the endeavor. Besides, he had a cat to deliver.

The furry feline was safely back in his grasp, which annoyed him because while the cat was calm, she _still_ stuck her claws deeply in his torso, but Martian Manhunter assured him that the cat had no ill intentions and was simply trying to ensure that she would not be dropped, so Megamind resisted the urge to cube the little beast. Instead, he simply stroked the animal's head, trying to reassure her to the point where she would relax and release her claws of her own free will. It wasn't working…

But he didn't have time to pout about the unfairness of life in general and his life in particular. He nodded to the man who was in charge of the transporter controls and said in his best James T. Kirk impersonation, "Beam me down, Mr. Scott."

Apparently that was a joke this particular techie had heard once too often recently as he merely scowled at the alien, but he obediently began to power up the transporter to send him home.

"Wait!"

The man froze at the sound of Super Man's voice, which annoyed Megamind to no end. Couldn't the man just do his job so he could use that as an excuse to avoid the Kryptonian? Well, apparently not!

Superman flew over to the transporter and asked breathlessly—which was odd, as the Man of Steel couldn't possibly have gotten winded from the short sprint across the room—"Megamind, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Megamind frowned, wondering what he had possibly done that was so wrong that Superman would call him out. The only thing he could think of was the time he had spaced out right after his battle with Psycho Delic; but that hadn't been his fault as it was a natural reaction, apparently, and he couldn't have informed anyone of this weakness because prior to this day he hadn't _known_ he had such reactions to psychic influences. But then, he thought bitterly, when has something stupid like it not being his fault ever bothered super heroes eager to blame him for stuff?

 _Don't judge a book by its cover_. The saying Roxanne loved to use so much flitted through his mind at what he considered to be a very inconvenient time, but he had to admit the words had merit. He didn't _know_ Super Man, thusly he couldn't accurately predict just what the Man of Steel wanted. Well, letting him talk would give him insight as to what to expect in the future, so Megamind nodded to the alien. "Alright," he conceded. "We can talk."

Super Man's eyes darted to the twenty-some-odd heroes present (the transporter overlooked the observation deck, which was fast becoming a hot spot as that was where J'onn designated missions, and everyone who was available wanted him to know that) and swallowed, suddenly looking very unsure of himself. The look vanished in an instant, and Megamind found that Superman had an excellent poker face. "In private?" he requested, a request that Megamind's common sense did not want to grant him _at all_ , but by now he was curious. So he nodded again, and followed Super Man to his private quarters in the Watchtower.

Megamind didn't have private quarters, but that was due to the fact that he had _refused_ to stay on the Watchtower over night at any time under any circumstances; he would sleep in his own Lair, on his own bed, thank you very much. The alien hesitated slightly when Super Man motioned for him to enter, but now he felt committed to this, so he walked into the room. Super Man shut the door behind them.

Responding to the nagging voice in the back of his mind that told him this was very, very bad, Megamind's hand stealthily crept towards his de-gun as he struggled to keep his voice nonchalant as he asked, "So what did you need, Superman?"

"Megamind," the hero began, and—good Lord, the man suddenly looked like he was about to start crying! "I am so sorry for what happened."

Oh, this _was_ bad. Super Man turning out to be a second Metro Man he could handle. Super Man wanting to get him alone to teach him a lesson, he was pretty sure he could handle. A Super Man beside himself with guilt because he got hurt? Yeah, he was lost. "It's, it's ok," the blue alien said frantically, hoping Super Man wouldn't burst into tears as he looked like he wanted to do. Megamind always felt helpless whenever Roxanne cried, and he certainly didn't want to know how he felt should the Man of Steel do the same.

"No," Superman, to Megamind's great relief, seemed to compose himself before he continued. "It's not ok. I was the senior hero on that mission. It was my job to make sure my teammates were safe, and I failed."

In the past year, Megamind had become somewhat of an expert at apologizing. He had to apologize to Metro City for terrorizing them, for one thing, and he found that being a boyfriend meant that you were always having to apologize for something or another, but he had zip experience with people apologizing to _him._ He honestly had no idea what to say, and somehow Roxanne's acceptance of his apologies, consisting of 'kiss and make up' struck him as inappropriate in this situation.

"You were busy," Megamind said, stating the obvious as it was the only thing he could think of to say, and it was apparent that Superman wanted him to say _something._ "You had your own villain to face, and it can't be easy trying to keep an eye on five separate battles at once while fighting your own." Well, it was easy for Megamind, but he had been informed that not everyone had his brain, and that many people actually had difficulties multitasking. Perhaps Superman was one such person; but that wasn't his fault, any more than being super-vulnerable to psychic attack was Megamind's fault. It was just the way his brain worked.

But Superman was shaking his head, stubbornly refusing to let the blame rest anywhere but his inability to perform adequately. "That's not an excuse," he replied. "I should have been paying more attention, Megamind, and I'm truly, deeply sorry."

"It's fine," Megamind insisted. "I don't blame you. You shouldn't blame yourself either."

Super Man closed his eyes and nodded, his face a strange mixture of relief and resignation, and allowed Megamind to exit the room. The blue genius walked back to the transporter in a daze, the most prominent thought in his mind being, ' _well, he_ definitely _isn't Metro Man, that's a given.'_

* * *

Minion was beside himself with worry. Megamind had been gone for five hours now, and he hadn't so much as a call on their wrist communicators confirming that he was ok. Minion was pacing through the lair worriedly, though he was pacified a small bit when he noticed that Megamind's wrist communicator was sitting besides the bed, which explained why he hadn't called. Sir couldn't forget, not in the true sense of the word, but sometimes he tended to overlook minor details as his mind got wrapped up in the big picture. Since he'd bought a cell phone to help him keep in touch with Roxanne Ritchi, the wrist communicator had been overlooked more often, especially since Minion was usually with him and they no longer had need of it to help plan escape attempts from the Metro City Prison for the Criminally Gifted. Minion would simply have to remind him to keep the wrist communicator with him anyway, just in case.

But still, _five hours_! How long can a simple orientation take? 'Welcome to the Justice League, we hope you'll have a nice time fighting crime with us.' How the heck did that take _five hours?_

Minion was seriously considering breaking into NASA and stealing a space shuttle so he could get to that space station and find out what the heck was going on for himself when he heard Megamind's unmistakable voice ring out, "Minion? I'm back."

"Oh, Sir, thank goodness!" Minion breathed a sigh of relief as he headed for the door to their lair, prepared to give Megamind a good scolding for scaring him like that. "Sir, you really need to take the wrist communicator with you when you leave, even when you don't think that…" he trailed off suddenly as Megamind came into view and gasped.

His friend looked _awful_. His suit was torn in various places, shallow cuts and bruises peeking out from under them, though they did show signs that they had been given treatment, and a few Band-Aids had been apparently been put on the worst of his wounds. (Not that they could be too bad if Band-Aids sporting Barney the Dinosaur's head was the heaviest bandage needed, but that was beside the whole point.) His eyes were bloodshot and dark circles surrounded them, though whether they were more bruises or simply because he was exhausted, or a combination of the two, Minion couldn't rightfully say. Mr. Fluffers was clinging to his shirt in a way that couldn't possibly be comfortable, but the kitten as at least calm and purring, not attacking him savagely at the moment.

Minion instantly remembered the bullying that his friend had faced as a child, and the look on his face quite obviously showed he had drawn the conclusion that Megamind had been right about his initial assumptions that the League was another School in disguise. "Sir!" he cried. "What happened?"

"Nothing much Minion, just a random group of superpowered thugs busting up Metropolis," Megamind replied, trying put it off as inconsequential but too tired to actually pull it off. "I found out that I don't handle psychic intrusions very well. When I wake up, remind me to make something to counteract that."

Minion looked at his friend intently, trying to find any signs that he might be lying about how his injuries had occurred, but he finally nodded, content that no deception was apparent. "I worried about you, Sir," he said finally.

Megamind gave him a tired smile. "You fantastic fish, you," he said, stifling a yawn. "Here, return this to that snotty little girl, will you, Minion? I really need to sleep this off."

A tiny, mewing ball of kitty fluff was thrust into Minion's arms. "Of course Sir," Minion assured his friend. "You just rest and get better, alright?"

"Yes, and Minion?" Megamind paused on his way to his bedroom and turned back towards the fish. "In the future, you will most certainly be coming with me whenever I go to the Watchtower." With that decree, Megamind swiftly headed for his bed so he wouldn't pass out on the floor.

Minion couldn't have agreed with him more.


	6. Chapter 6

**I honestly couldn't tell you why, but I really wanted to make a DC superheroine be Roxanne's new camerawoman as her secret identity. It just seemed like a fun little ironic twist. Unfortunately, most DC heroines are suited for jobs that would make being a camerawoman a waste of their talents, or they are in some way identified with Superman, and that was just TOO much irony for me. That's when I found out about Indigo on Wikipedia. I saw major potential to twist her to my will, and thusly I did. And the fact that she's blue and strikes me as a female Megamind has *nothing* to do with my decision. *Whistles and refuses to look readers in the eyes.* Anyway! I even found a sneaky way to get two of my favorite lines in the movie into this chapter! Yay me! On with the fic!**

 **Disclaimer: Megamind and his associates are property of Dreamworks, and any other heroes, heroines, villains, or villainesses are property of DC and Warner Brothers. The cat is still mine.**

Megamind woke bright and early the next morning, feeling much refreshed and a thousand times better. Oh sure, his body still ached and his joints felt stiff, but his mind no longer felt so sluggish and exhausted and that did wonders for his mood. He lay in his bed for a moment, enjoying the blissful state between sleep and wakefulness that one can only feel just when they are beginning to wake up, delighting in his delightfully warm blanket. It was deliciously comfortable today, particularly around his chest area, which was just _slightly_ warmer than normal, and was also vibrating in such a manner that felt just great, plus the purring really did sound nice.

…Wait…Since when did his blanket purr?

Frowning, Megamind finally allowed his eyes to open and he looked down, meeting the yellowish green eyes of a little grey kitten curled up on his chest, purring as if content to stay with him for all eternity in such a position.

"MINION!"

A sound that was suspiciously reminiscent of several pots and pans crashing to the ground met his ears and in moments his faithful companion appeared in the doorway of his room. "Sir! You're awake. Are you alright?"

"What is _this_?" Megamind asked, his voice full of righteous indignation as he pointed at the kitten, who seemed to be glaring at him, as if accusing him for ruining their perfect morning of snuggling together in the warm blankets.

"Oh, well, you see Sir, I sort of…what happened was, see, I sort of couldn't…I couldn't…"

Tired of listening to his friend's babbling, Megamind snapped, "Couldn't _what,_ Minion?"

"I couldn't find the little girl the kitty belongs to, Sir!" Minion blurted out, looking close to tears.

"Couldn't _find_ her?" Megamind's annoyed look turned incredulous. "Minion, the child was screaming as if the cat was the most valuable item on earth and now you're telling me she just _left_ it?"

"Well, you were gone for five hours Sir," Minion pointed out.

Megamind frowned, but he had to acknowledge that was more or less true. "But you're telling me she didn't give you any sort of contact information?" he asked, stunned that the girl would have made such a huge blunder. Minion shrugged and shook his head, apparently she hadn't.

"But I did find this place called the 'pound' Sir, where they lock up animals until their owners find them," Minion added eagerly. "Sort of like a prison for pets. I thought I should wait until you could make a decision on what to do for yourself though…"

Megamind made a humming noise as he thought that over, looking at the kitten thoughtfully. It seemed to be giving him sad eyes. "Well, you _have_ been very naughty, you know," he told her crossly. "Climbing up trees and attacking Super Heroes and all that! I think some time in a cell will help you reflect on what you've done so you can make a change for the better." He sat up, grabbing the kitten and flinging the covers off of his body, decision made. "Very well then! Come Minion, to the pound!"

* * *

The Pound really did look somewhat like the prison that Megamind had grown up in, the hero noticed with interest. There did not seem to be any guards on the outside, so he walked into the building, Minion right on his heels.

The kitten mewed, gaining Megamind's attention, and when he looked, she seemed quite contrite. "Don't give me that look," Megamind ordered. "You brought this on yourself, you know."

With that, the blue genius steeled his resolve and found a guard standing behind a desk. At least, he assumed it was a guard, though this person was obviously a teenager, and he'd never seen a guard who had pink streaks in her hair, or who wore gothic makeup. But hey, the times they are a-changin. Shrugging it off, he approached the teenager, saying grandly, "Excuse me, but I am here to deliver this feline felon to the proper authorities until the owner can be found."

The girl looked up at him, a bored, unimpressed look, and rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said. "Fill this form out then."

Megamind frowned, he'd never been requested to file paperwork whenever he delivered human criminals. But perhaps the customs were different when you factored in animals. He obediently started to fill out the form, but one statement confused him. "Minion, it says here that if no one claims my animal within a certain time period they will put her to sleep. All she does is sleep, and attack people! This doesn't make any sense."

The teenager looked at him like he was an idiot. "Not sleep as in take a nap," she told him.

"Then what…oh…" understanding seemed to dawn slowly, confusion melting into shock. "You don't mean you're going to…"

"Yep," The girl replied, popping the 'p' sound and making a slicing motion across her throat, actually grinning for the first time.

Megamind gawked at her in horror. "But…but this state has _banned_ the death penalty!" he shrieked.

Now the 'You're an idiot' look was back. "So?" she asked peevishly.

"You…you're a monster!" Megamind yelled at her, clutching the kitten to his chest as if to protect her. The kitten was so small he could cover her whole body with a single hand, and in an instant his free hand had his de-gun out and was aiming it at the teen's head. She looked suitably unimpressed.

"Look, are you going to give me the cat or not?" she asked.

"Get back, you savage!" Megamind warned her, backing towards the exit slowly, his eyes locked onto her in case she suddenly attacked him or something. "Minion, bar the door!"

"Right away Sir!" Minion agreed wholeheartedly, equally as horrified at the suggestions he had heard this day. Following Megamind outside, he quickly took out a ray-gun he carried on him for just such an occasion (barring doors was a minion's prerogative, although Super Heroes didn't normally bar things as much as Super Villains did) and melted the metal sides of the door to the wall, effectively trapping the teenager inside.

Once this was done, the two raced to the invisible car as if the Metro City Prison's guard dogs were snapping at their heels, jumped inside, and raced as far away from the pound as they could possibly get.

* * *

Once they got to what they deemed a safe distance, the Minion slowed down to a more reasonable speed and snuck a look over to Megamind. The blue alien had an angry scowl on his face as he clutched the kitten protectively, the same way he used to clutch Minion's ball back in school when the other kids would joke about cooking and eating him. Minion swallowed and said, somewhat desperately, "Sir, I had no idea that they did _that_ , or I never would have suggested it…"

"I know, Minion," Megamind said quietly, his expression softening. The kitten was purring, rubbing her head against Megamind's hand to coerce him into petting her, and he complied.

Minion sighed with relief that Sir wasn't blaming _him_ for that whole mess. Now that things were more or less back to normal and the Pound of Evil was behind them, his mind turned to other matters. "Sir, you really should be wearing a seatbelt," he warned.

"Hush Minion," Megamind said, peering out the window at a large gathering. "I wonder what's going on?"

"I don't know Sir. But look, there's Miss Ritchi."

Megamind's eyes lit up. "Roxanne!" he said happily. "Minion STOP THE CAR!"

Startled by the abrupt (not to mention loud) order, Minion slammed his foot on the brakes, causing the car to lurch and Megamind's body to suddenly rush forward of its own accord, causing him to hit the dashboard rather hard. "Ow! My giant blue head!" he yelped, clutching his now-hurting forehead.

"Sir, I warned you," Minion reminded him. This wasn't even the first time this had happened; they went through a variation of this 'accident' two or three times every week, and Megamind _still_ wouldn't put on his seat belt.

"Yes, so you did," Megamind replied a bit absently, eagerly opening the door and rushing towards his girlfriend, oblivious to anything else. "Roxanne!" he called to the reporter. She had just finished up a news report; and as he got closer he could see a large hole in a nearby electronics store. There were several sparks and other signs of massive electrical current failures inside. "Megamind," Roxanne smiled at him warmly as he approached. "I see you finally decided to show up."

"What happened?" he wondered, then his brow narrowed. "And why have you gotten another new cameraman?"

"Nobody's sure just what happened. Witnesses say a blue woman broke into the store, but no one's come out, and obviously no one wants to risk going in, not with that electric current charging through the store," Roxanne explained. "And I got a new cameraman, because the last one was too lazy to show up to work."

Megamind frowned. "That's the tenth cameraman you've replaced in two months," he said unhappily. "What is it with cameramen in this city being completely unreliable or borderline psychotic?"

"Must be something in the air," Roxanne joked. "Are you going to do something about that?"

"About what?"

Roxanne raised an eyebrow and motioned to the sparking electronics store, reminding him that he did have a job to be doing. "Oh! Right. I'll…take care of that."

Megamind walked over to the ruined building and took a look inside. He could see several electrical appliances had been ripped apart and others seemed…merged, for lack of a better term. Electricity filled the whole store. Quickly, Megamind spoke into his wrist communicator. "Minion, code: Bring me the portable EMP weapon we have in the trunk."

"Code: Right away, Sir," Minion replied cheerfully.

"You have a portable EMP weapon in your trunk?" Roxanne asked, bemused.

"Yes, don't you?" Her boyfriend asked, completely serious.

Roxanne just shook her head, but Minion had already made his way to Megamind with the portable EMP weapon (which looked to her like an old Sony Walkman), and aimed it at the building. A white energy pulse emerged from it and all the electronic equipment in the store went dead, making it safe to walk into the store and check things out.

"Let's see what we're dealing with here, shall we?" Megamind asked rhetorically, as he and Minion walked into the building. Once they made it to the back, they spotted the intruder, lying face-down on the ground, completely unconscious.

"Is that…is that a blue woman, Sir?" Minion asked incredulously, for it seemed to be just that; a red-headed woman with skin a shade bluer than Megamind's although her head was the appropriate size of a human's, rather than the size of the blue genius' own head.

"That's not a woman, Minion," Megamind replied, his gaze falling on areas of the thing's body that had apparently been torn or peeled off, revealing dead circuitry underneath. The thing's fingers had extended into USB ports, and had attached themselves to several nearby pieces of electronic equipment; this is what had apparently caused all the electric surges. "That's a machine!"

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Megamind and Minion had managed to transport the robot to Undesignated Lair and had hooked it up to a table. Several wires extended from somewhere in its head to one of Megamind's computers, as he was trying to download its memory to see what, exactly, it was and what it had been trying to do.

Roxanne was with them, stroking the lair's current feline occupant as she watched Megamind work. "So what's the story with the cat?" she asked.

"Sir can't find her owner," Minion replied, as Megamind was too busy trying to hack into the robot's memory files. "We tried the pound, but it was a horrible, horrible place. We're not sure how to get into contact with the owner now, though."

"Have you tried fliers?" Roxanne asked.

Despite how busy he was, Megamind paused, looking back at Roxanne in bewilderment. "How will flying help us find the owner?"

His girlfriend laughed. "No, fliers, papers that explain that you have the cat and a number for the owner to call you to pick her up. You put them up all over the city so the owner can find one."

"Does that work?" Megamind asked eagerly.

"Sure," Roxanne replied. "Sometimes people who lose their pets even offer cash rewards on the fliers in the hopes that whoever finds them will be more likely to bring it back."

"Roxanne, you're a genius!" Megamind crooned. "That's what I'll do! I'll offer a reward if the owner comes and gets her pet!"

"That's not quite the way it works…" Roxanne started, but decided it didn't matter, since he was much happier now anyway.

"Minion, remember to pick up some paper at the store next time you go so we can make our flee-iers," Megamind said decisively, once again consumed with hacking the robot's memories.

"I'll do it Minion," Roxanne said quickly. "I need to head to the store anyway and pick up some groceries for tomorrow. And also some cat food, just in case. In fact, I should probably get going."

"Thanks, Miss Ritchi," Minion told her gratefully.

"Do you have to go _now_?" Megamind practically whined, once again stopping his work and turning to give her his full attention.

"Fraid so," Roxanne replied, giving him a quick kiss. "I'll see you later, ok?"

Her boyfriend visibly pouted, but nodded his acceptance of her wishes. Roxanne quickly gathered up her purse, said a final goodbye, and left, presumably to go to the store.

* * *

For the next ten minutes or so the lair was very quiet, save for the sound of Megamind's fingers on the keyboard of his computer as he worked out the surprisingly very complex code protecting the robot's memory core from prying eyes. But presently he gave a little shout of triumph as he cracked it and the robot's memories were displayed for all to see. Although Minion still had no idea what it was; it was some sort of complex computer algorithm. Megamind, however, seemed to read it with ease.

"Well, well," he said presently. "It seems our little friend went by the name of Brainiac 8, and was sent here to kill someone named Donna. There's also something here that references 'likeability' but its memory has been damaged, and a lot of information is missing. Even so, we very well can't have robots going around and killing people, so I will finish what previous damage has started and erase the rest of its objective and memory files…like so." With a few swift strokes of the keyboard, he deleted everything the robot remembered.

"Well, now that that's cleared up Sir, what should we do with the robot?" Minion asked. "Shall I take it to the dump?"

"What? And waste a perfectly good robot? I think not!" Megamind looked insulted by the very idea. "No, let's think of something practical, Minion." The blue genius stroked his goatee, deep in thought. Finally his eyes lit up. "I have it! I'll give it to Roxanne!"

"Sir?" Minion spluttered.

"Oh, this is brilliant, Minion! I will reprogram this robot to act as a camerawoman, one who is not lazy, manipulative, or turn into a stalker and try to kill us all!" Megamind was practically jumping up and down with his excitement as he started to write some coding. "Roxanne will be thrilled!"

"Uh, Sir, I don't think this is such a good idea," Minion said nervously. "I mean, I might not be a genius, but even I can tell that this robot has a lot of serious weapon systems on it."

"Hmm, yes," Megamind frowned. "I might also add a sub-routine to protect Roxanne from potential kidnappers, but even I have to admit _that_ many weapons are overkill for such a purpose." He tapped his chin, thinking intently. "Oh, I know! I will program it to protect Metrocity whenever you and I are called away on League business! Oh, that is fantastically brilliant!" And he was back to his programming.

"I don't know Sir," Minion replied. "I mean, what if its original programming comes back online?"

"It will _never_ come back, Minion, because _I_ deleted it," Megamind replied in a voice one would use to patronize a small child. "And recycling is a very heroic thing to do, by the way."

"I'm aware of that Sir," Minion admitted. "But I still think this is a bad idea. As in 'Tighten' bad."

"Oh, you don't know what you're talking about," Megamind said matter-of-factly. "If there was any danger I would never consider reprogramming this robot, and I _certainly_ wouldn't let it near Roxanne. I learn from my mistakes, Minion."

Well, that was certainly true. Megamind never made the same mistake twice, unless you counted trying to destroy Metro Man as a mistake. Still, there was always a first time for everything… "If you say so, Sir," Minion sighed, giving his friend the benefit of the doubt.

Megamind grinned at him happily. "Fantastic Minion! I'll also program it to enjoy folding laundry, I know that's a household chore you're not fond of doing. Anything else?"

Minion grinned, pleased at the gesture, and joined his friend in thinking up outlandish programs for their new robot. "Why don't we make it a fan of classic rock?"

"An outstanding idea! And it's got some form of AI, let's expand that, so it can think on its feet when facing super villains, shall we?"

The two were up for the rest of the night, tossing ideas back and forth and integrating them into the new programming for the robot. Megamind, genius that he was, was capable of writing all the code needed within that timespan, so it wouldn't take months to get the robot back on its feet, or anything. Most of the hard work—preparing the body, getting it ready to accept the programming—had already been attended to by someone else. The rest was cakewalk as far as the blue genius was concerned.

Just before they commenced to uploading the new information into the machine, Minion had one final question. "Sir? What are you going to call our new robot?"

Megamind honestly had no idea, but he was good at thinking on his feet. He took one look at the machine and said without the slightest hesitation, "Indigo, Minion. We'll call her Indigo."


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok, as I have been informed, I should not even fathom the possibility of having Booster Gold as a recurring character in this fiction without using his best friend, Ted Kord, a.k.a. the Blue Beetle. But just so you know, the only Beetle I know anything about is Jaime Reyes, from the Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon. Ted was shown as a flashback there but there wasn't enough to really get a handle on how he acts. Wikipedia states he has acts a little bit like Spider-Man, probably since Steve Ditko was responsible for both their creations. I can do Spider-Man, and sort of mesh it with the small flashback of Ted shown in one Brave and the Bold cartoon and thusly my Blue Beetle is portrayed. If anyone actually *knows* what Ted Kord is like, I sincerely hope I pulled off a miracle and got him in character.**

 **Disclaimer: Everyone here is either owned by Dreamworks, DC, or Warner Bros. I'm just borrowing. (You can borrow anything you want without permission as long as you give it back before it's missed.** _ **Everyone**_ **knows that!)**

Once they started to download their new programming into Indigo's memory core, it was discovered that the sheer volume of things they wanted her to learn would take nearly the entire day to upload. That was a bother; especially as Megamind wanted the robot to start helping Roxanne _right away_. He had patience issues, which was another way of saying he had no patience whatsoever.

Minion finally got his mind off of how long it was taking to upload the new information by suggesting they head to the Watchtower to see if there was anything cool going on there. That perked Megamind up greatly, and he eagerly agreed.

There hadn't been anything cool happening at the moment, but luckily Minion had been prepared for that possibility by bringing some paper and a pen and convincing Megamind to create that flier for Mega Cat's owner. (They both agreed never to call the cat 'Mr. Fluffers' again, if only to save everyone from gender confusion issues.)

Right now, Megamind, Minion, and Plastic Man were sitting at the table that they had dubbed to be 'their table' in the cafeteria. Megamind was writing on his paper while Plastic Man was informing him of all the things he had missed.

"So let me get this straight," Megamind frowned, looking up from his flier. "You're saying that some guy named Mordred removed all adults from earth and the only reason we're here now is because Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Batman were all turned into kids and stopped him?"

"Pretty much," Plastic Man replied.

"Why don't I remember this?" Megamind asked. Then, thinking some more, he scowled at Minion. "Even if I was unconscious, Minion, I still would have liked to be informed of something like being removed from earth and returned while I slept, you know."

"To be honest, Sir, I don't know what he's talking about," Minion admitted. "I don't recall ever being removed from earth or anything similar to that."

"Oh, really?" Megamind smirked at Plastic Man, and his friend got the distinct impression that should he and Minion give conflicting reports, it certainly wasn't Plastic Man who Megamind would believe. That was fine, though, because pretty much nobody who wasn't in the Watchtower remembered anything about what had happened that day, so it wasn't like Minion was being petty, or anything like that. "What else did I miss?"

"Oh, just the usual. Villains trying to take over the world, several revenge plots against different League members, a couple of Leaguers stopped some civil war brewing over in Europe, and there's this one guy in the League named Ambush Bug that says his arch nemesis, who happens to be a talking sock, is trying to kill him for not wearing it, but nobody really takes him seriously. I overheard Batman and Green Lantern talking about replacing him."

"I have hard time believing all of that happened in two days," Megamind informed Plastic Man. "But it does sound fantastic."

"So, what you got there?" Plastic Man prompted after a long silence in which Megamind pretty much seemed to forget that there was a world that didn't revolve around his little piece of paper.

"Oh, this?" Megamind asked. He offered the paper to Plastic Man. "See for yourself."

Plastic Man took the paper and made a big show of pretending to be a news anchor being handed a breaking news story on air. Finally, though, he stopped joking around and started to read it:

 **CAT RESCUED**

 **Little grey kitten found in tree**

 **Owner ran off before I could return it**

 **Unpleasant little thing**

 **Contact Information: 436-8791**

 **$17.13 cash reward**

 **Please pick up and declaw your pet**

A picture of the kitten that had attacked Green Arrow was also present. Plastic Man raised a brow as he read, then nodded. "A very prudent idea."

"What, to create a flier?" Megamind asked.

"No, to insist the owner declaws it."

"Ah, I thought so too."

"Why offer just seventeen dollars and thirteen cents though?"

Megamind shrugged, the tips of his cheeks turning slightly purple. "Um, well, that's all the change Minion and I could find in the couch."

"I'm sorry I couldn't find more, Sir," Minion said sadly, looking disappointed with himself.

"Hey, that's cool," Plastic Man said, trying to cheer the fish back up. "You guys are actually…" he pulled out a wallet from out of nowhere and checked the contents. "Twelve dollars and thirteen cents richer than I am. Hey, that reminds me, you think I could borrow—"

"No," Megamind cut in, remembering how Roxanne had warned him to beware of friends needing money.

Plastic Man started to pout visibly, crossing his arms to further prove he was throwing a temper tantrum. Megamind ignored him, however, simply taking his flier back and doodling schematics for that psychic invasion prevention device he needed on the back of it. Minion leaned over his shoulders to watch him, occasionally telling him how brilliantly designed it looked. Curiosity finally overwhelmed Plastic Man's desire to pout, so he sneakily (well, he thought it was sneaky, at least) stretched his neck around behind Megamind's other shoulder to position his head to see what he was doing.

"Um, excuse me?"

The voice startled the three, and their heads shot up. Plastic Man forgot to retract his neck when he did so, so his head ended up hitting the ceiling. "Ouch! Dang it!"

Megamind bit his lip to keep from chuckling and instead focused on their caller, a nervous looking Firestorm with a plate of food. "Yes?"

"Can I sit here?" Firestorm asked, motioning to the empty seat with his head.

Plastic Man frowned and opened his mouth, but Megamind, knowing full well how bad it felt to be rejected by others, made sure he spoke before Plastic Man could. "Yeah, nobody else is sitting there."

The grateful grin Firestorm passed him as he sat down was more than worth the mean look Plastic Man was shooting him. Besides, Plas was always seeming to get upset with him easily, but often forgot what he was 'mad' about within moments, so Megamind wasn't too concerned about his bad mood.

"Thanks," Firestorm said gratefully, before taking a bite out of what the cook insisted were mashed potatoes, but which Minion emphatically warned Megamind not to eat, and, as the fish knew more about cooking and nutrition than Megamind cared to learn, made the genius wince in sympathy as Firestorm swallowed it.

As Firestorm was eating and Plas had returned to pouting, Megamind took the time to continue his blueprints. No sooner had he started than Plastic Man again stretched his neck around to watch him, an Firestorm leaned over to watch him too, although he tried to act more casual about the whole thing than Plas was.

Megamind wasn't used to having an audience while he drew blueprints, in fact, besides Minion and occasionally Roxanne, no one had ever even seen any of the designs he used to make his creations, much less watch him draw them. He'd never let anyone watch him draw since the first time he participated in arts and crafts in his old school. After _that_ particular experience, he had sworn no one would ever get to see him draw again, ever. He had to admit though, he didn't mind Plastic Man and Firestorm watching him, as they weren't mocking him, laughing at his drawing, or trying to steal his crayons. (Stupid Bobby Grayson—and you can bet nobody ever sent _him_ to the corner, either!)

After a while, Firestorm decided to speak up. "That looks awesome," he said, sounding suitably impressed. "Are you going to make that?"

Megamind nodded, thrilled with the notions of getting to speak about something he was passionate about with others. Besides Minion and Roxanne, he'd never had anyone who cared enough to ask such questions about things he was planning to invent. "Yes, this will help me protect myself against psychic attacks so they won't be so dangerous anymore."

Firestorm grinned and nodded at him. "Hey, that's awesome! I wish I could just make something that makes my weaknesses go away."

"Yes, well," Megamind cleared his throat, trying to deal with the conflicting emotions of pride and embarrassment that seemed to strike him at the exact same time.

"So anyway, listen, if you need help finding any of these materials I can totally help out," Firestorm said eagerly.

Megamind frowned at him, his eyes narrowing. "Why?" he asked, suspicious of Firestorm's motives.

Firestorm didn't seem to notice Megamind's mood change, or at least chose not to acknowledge it. Instead he just shrugged. "I dunno, I guess cuz I still owe you, you know?"

Megamind perked up a bit, but he still regarded Firestorm with suspicion. "Didn't you repay that debt by not letting me fall face first onto the pavement?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, but you saved me twice," Firestorm reminded him. "So I still owe you one."

"Your grasp on basic mathematics is admirable," Megamind said with a hint of a smile on his face. "Really though, most of the materials I need are readily at hand. The only thing I don't have is Talentum, a rare lustrous transition metal to help the electrical current flow properly through the device in order to make it work. The amount I'd need comes to a hefty sum, even if I bought the common household items its found in and scavenge it instead of buying it in its purest form."

"How much money does it cost?" Plastic Man asked in curiosity.

"Last I checked, one pound costs as much as eighty-five dollars," Megamind said matter-of-factly. "And it's been in demand recently, so the price is continually going up."

"Well, how many pounds do you need?"

"Many." The blue genius smirked. "In the past, I simply stole the items I didn't have… but I don't steal anymore," he finished quickly, mentally kicking himself for bringing up his less than heroic past here.

"Hello? Lest we're forgetting, I'm practically an ancient alchemist's dream here," Firestorm said. "Seeing as I actually have turned lead into gold. Turning plastic or some other easy-to-find item into this Talentum stuff's no problem."

Megamind's whole face lit up with excitement. "Really? That would be terrific!" he said eagerly.

"Great! It's a deal then. Tell me how much you need and when to get it to you and I'll get on it ASAP," Firestorm said happily, taking a mouthful of more of the Minion Disapproved Mashed Potato Substance.

Megamind was wondering if this meant that Firestorm was on his small (yet decidedly growing) 'friends list' and if he should warn him about those mashed potatoes when the Martian Manhunter's voice called out over the loudspeakers. "Megamind, report to Javelin docking bay 7."

Normally, J'onn would contact the members of each team for a mission telepathically, but the League was being paranoid about Megamind's susceptibility to telepathic intrusions. Although Megamind was 99% certain that a telepathic, _'Hi, can you come here a moment?'_ would cause no damage to his mind and body, no telepath on the Watchtower was willing to risk the 5% chance that he was wrong. Thus why he was the only member they actually bothered to call through the intercom instead of just yelling in his head.

Megamind stood up grandly, handing his paper to Plastic Man, wordlessly trusting him to watch after it, and smiled at Firestorm. "Ah, well. Duty calls. Come, Minion," he motioned his sidekick to follow him grandly as he sauntered out of the room as if he owned the Watchtower, although he was fairly certain that honor belonged to Batman. (He wouldn't be a super genius if he couldn't figure such things out, and he had been curious as to how the League had paid for this, so…yeah. He wouldn't tell anyone though. If Batman wanted people to know, he could tell them himself.)

"Coming, Boss," Minion called after him, jumping up and rushing so he would be right behind him.

There was a long silence after the two left, until finally Plastic Man turned to Firestorm and asked, "So, who was the fish?"

Firestorm gawked at him. "Seriously? I thought you knew!"

* * *

Megamind and Minion met up with the Martian Manhunter at the docking bay, noticing that Booster Gold and his sidekick, Skeets, were already waiting. But it appeared that he wasn't the last one here this time, so that was a relief, at least.

"What's the problem?" he asked J'onn in his best heroic voice, only to be told to wait until the third member of their team joined them so that they could all be briefed together.

A couple of minutes later, Booster Gold and Megamind decided to pass the time by catching up a bit, such as it was.

"So, what's new with you?" Booster asked, rocking on his heels as he tried his best not to looked extremely bored and failing miserably.

"Oh, nothing much," Megamind replied in the same bored tone.

Minion, eager to help his best friend impress fellow League members, added quickly, "Sir is reprogramming a robot." He quickly grew quiet and began to act as if he was ignoring the whole conversation when Megamind turned to glare at him.

"That's nice," Booster Gold said absentmindedly. "We're good too. Had some awesome battles, people are starting to take notice of me."

"Most tend to believe he is the Green Lantern," Skeets added helpfully, only to receive his own glare from his own hero. Skeets seemed to deflate quietly, but perked up when he saw Minion giving him an, 'I know what that's like' grin from behind Megamind's back.

"Green Lantern?" Megamind asked, incredulous. "But you look nothing _like_ Green Lantern!"

"Exactly!" Booster Gold jumped on the point. "Seriously, how can they mistake me for Green Lantern? My costume isn't even green!"

"Plus Lantern's got a serious 'I got a stick shoved up my butt' attitude," a third voice chimed in, sounding amused.

"Yes, thank you!" Booster Gold nodded emphatically at the new guy, a man dressed up in a blue uniform that had an insect imprinted on his chest. The man walked up to the two, extending his hand.

"Name's Blue Beetle. And I assume you're Green Lantern, right?" he asked, the grin on his face suggesting he was joking.

"Ha, ha," the golden costumed hero replied sarcastically. "It's Booster Gold, and this here's my sidekick Skeets, my buddy Megamind and uh…this fish guy."

"Oh!" Megamind jumped, grinning apologetically. "Sorry, I hadn't realized you didn't recognize him. This is my Hero Support, Minion. The term sidekick just seemed a little too demeaning for all the help he provides me in keeping Metro City safe—no offense, Skeets."

"None taken," Skeets said cheerfully.

"How do you do, Mr. Beetle?" Minion asked politely, shaking Blue Beetle's hand.

Blue Beetle frowned for a moment, looking lost, then he grinned again. "For your information, 'Mr. Beetle' was my mentor. Call me Blue," he joked.

"Of course, Mr. Blue," Minion agreed politely.

"Ahem," Martian Manhunter cleared his throat, causing the three heroes and the two sidekicks—err, Hero Support teammates—turned to look at him. Blue Beetle scowled and crossed his arms.

"Seriously, J'onn, did you _have_ to wait until I was in the bathroom to invade my mind?" he griped, but with a hint of a smile that seemed to indicate it was just another of his quips.

"I am sorry the universe can't wait to become endangered until your earliest convenience," the Manhunter replied dryly. "But we have a situation."

"Don't we always?" the Beetle quipped, then looked chastised under the Martian's gaze. He mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key with a sheepish smile.

"One of the government's secret space facility has recently stopped contacting its government. It has been several weeks now, and the authorities have become concerned. It would take several more months to prepare a shuttle to see what has happened, and they are concerned that they might not have the time to spare."

"So they contacted us," Megamind filled in the blanks. J'onn nodded.

"Yes, but I warn you, the contents of this secret space facility must remain that, a secret. You are to tell no one what you see there, and in fact are not allowed to even mention that you know it's there. I have been duly informed that it will be considered a federal offense to do so."

"What? That tanks!" Booster Gold whined. "What's the point of saving a top secret space station if we can't tell anybody?"

"Yes, what's the point of even having a secret space station if it's a secret?" the Beetle added with a straight face, causing Megamind to snicker into his hand, so that Booster wouldn't think he was laughing at him, since he most certainly wasn't.

"If you do not wish to join this mission, Booster Gold, I can find someone who will," J'onn suggested.

Booster crossed his arms and huffed. "No, I'll do it, I guess." He perked up a bit and added, "Hey, maybe there'll be some hot space chicks there that need rescuing. That way this mission won't end up as a _total_ bust."

"I didn't know you were an animal lover," Megamind said, pleasantly surprised by this supposed discovery. "But I doubt they would let baby chickens on a space station."

As they boarded the Javelin, the blue genius wondered why Booster Gold wouldn't speak to him anymore, and why Blue Beetle couldn't stop laughing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Megamind, Dreamworks does. I do not own the Justice League or Project: Cadmus stuff. DC and Warner Bros does. Enjoy**

The Blue Beetle was smart.

Not smart as in a smart aleck (though he certainly was that), smart as in 'he's probably got an IQ higher than freaking Batman' smart. Beetle was without a doubt the most intelligent human Megamind had met to date (besides Roxanne, although his opinions on that matter were somewhat biased, but that's neither here nor there). He _was_ the only human Megamind had met who had known what quantum electrodynamics (or QED) were and how QED could be described as a perturbation theory of the electromagnetic quantum vacuum.

And then he could turn around and make corny vacuum jokes until even Booster forgot he was mad at Megamind (although the alien still didn't understand why) and laugh about it with them.

So it was that by the time they had reached the secret space station, everyone was on good speaking terms with each other, much to Megamind's relief if no one else's. They docked the Javelin to the station and Beetle checked a few readouts on their ship's screens.

"Well, the good news is, it looks like there is air there for the moment," Beetle said matter-of-factly. "The bad news is, we're going to have to wear unflattering, itchy space suits anyway because we can't trust that the life support system will continue to work."

"Oh, what fun," Megamind replied with a large, fake smile as the three of them suited up in extremely ugly life support suits. Skeets and Minion didn't need one; as Skeets breathed air and technically Minion's gorilla outfit _was_ his life support suit. Once the three heroes were suitably prepared, Booster Gold opened the Javelin's doors and they stepped into the extremely dark and spookily deserted space station, which showed two different directions that they could go exploring.

"Minion and I will go to the left," Megamind informed his teammates.

"And Skeets and I will take the right," Booster Gold added.

"And Beetle Boy and I will…oh, wait, there _is_ no Beetle Boy, because unlike _some_ heroes, I have to work alone," Blue Beetle did his best to look sad. "All alone, with no sidekick to help me."

"Oh, well…" Megamind swallowed nervously, wondering if Beetle was just joking or if he really was upset that he didn't have a sidekick. "I'm sure you'll find a Beetle Boy to work with you some day," he informed the hero awkwardly.

"Yeah," Booster Gold nodded. "And um, in the meantime you can…come with me and Skeets?"

"Sure," Blue Beetle grinned, all traces of sadness gone from his features, which made Megamind think that the blue avenger hadn't _really_ wanted a Beetle Boy. If he did, Megamind hoped he would be able to find one.

Minion was looking nervously down the deserted corridors, gulping nervously. "Um, Sir? Are you sure splitting up is a good idea? You know what happens on those late night shows Miss Ritchi is so fond of watching…"

"Oh, don't be such a pill, Minion," Megamind rolled his eyes. "There's nothing to be afraid of. It's perfectly safe."

"Yes, there's no danger for us if we split up," The Blue Beetle called over his shoulder as he, Booster Gold, and Skeets walked down the right hand path of the corridor. "The monster _never_ stalks the right-hand corridor."

Megamind's eyes widened in horror and he looked down the left-hand corridor worriedly. "On the other hand, Minion, we are the only ones here with a weapon dangerous enough to combat monsters, and it would be incredibly selfish of us to leave our teammates more or less defenseless."

"I couldn't agree more with you, Sir," Minion agreed, as he and Megamind hurried to catch up with the other members of their team. Thankfully, neither of the other two heroes, nor Skeets, commented on their change of plans considering their path of choice.

* * *

The team walked through the station, becoming more and more agitated at the apparent fact that this place was abandoned. Megamind couldn't help but feel he was being watched, though none of them noticed the yellow glowing eyes that glared at them from the shadows after they had passed.

Blue Beetle noticed a computer terminal as he passed a room, and interested, he quickly ducking inside. "Maybe this thing can give us some answers as to what was going on around here," he said, pleased to find that the computer still worked, at least. "And that could give us clues as to what happened to everyone up here."

While he did this, Megamind and Minion checked the rest of the room, more out of curiosity than any other means. Booster just sort of hung around, trying to look productive even though he wasn't doing anything.

The blue genius' attention was drawn to several cylindrical glass tubes lined up along the wall. Wondering what they were for, he walked over to them and tried to peer inside.

"Lots of encryption here," Blue Beetle said absentmindedly as he worked on the computer. "It might take awhile to break, but it seems that this facility is part of something called…Project Cadmus?"

Megamind's eyes widened as he finally figured out that the tubes were some sort of stasis chambers, and inside were several unconscious human forms. "Oh," he said worriedly, mainly because he couldn't think of more appropriate words at the moment.

"What is it, Sir?" Minion asked, walking over to where Megamind was currently standing, and peered into the tube. "AAAH!" he shrieked, jumping backwards as he realized that a human was inside.

"What?" Blue Beetle looked up from the computer and over to his two stunned teammates. Who were 'stunned', of course, because they preferred that term over 'scared stiff'. They were also remembering all of Roxanne's favorite horror shows and noting that this discovery did not bode well for their continued monster-free wellbeing.

Booster Gold's attention, however, was distracted when a little creature jumped onto the table he was leaning on. Startled, but more curious, he leaned in to take in its appearance. It was a small grey creature, about the length of his forearm, with red and black stripes all along its body, pointed ears, two tiny horns on its head, and big red eyes. It was hunched over on all fours and looking at him serenely. In an odd, alien way, it was sort of cute.

"Hey, check this out," Booster called to the others, leaning over to get a better look. "Hey, there, little guy," he cooed to the creature.

The creature, which was known as a G-Gnome, stared at him for another long minute and its horns lit up, glowing bright red.

"What's it doing?" Blue Beetle asked worriedly.

"Glowing," Megamind replied matter-of-factly, because that _was_ what it was doing.

"Well, I can see that," Beetle griped. "But _why_?"

"Maybe it likes me," Booster suggested happily. "After all, who wouldn't?"

An unearthly roar split the air, and the three heroes whirled around to see a veritable army of creatures, similar to the G-Gnome but larger, with claws on the ends of their hands and feet, long, catlike tails and pointed ears, but no horns, snarling at them. These versions of the creatures were called G-Elves.

"Or maybe it has something to do with _those_ ," Beetle countered, jumping up from his seat at the counter as the things leapt towards the three.

Megamind let out a muffled shriek as one of the G-Elves landed on his body, knocking him to the ground before he could get his de-gun in position to fire. He held it crosswise above his body, using it to hold the G-Elf's snarling teeth at bay while he tried to kick it off of his body.

"Sir!" Minion gasped, grabbing the offending creature's waist with his huge, gorilla-like hands and flinging it away from Megamind and into a nearby wall, where it hit with a thickening _thud_ and slid to the ground.

Megamind scrambled to his feet in an instant, flipping the setting on his de-gun to De-Bilitate, aiming it at the G-Elf that had attacked him and firing before it could rise to press its attack, making it too weak to hold up its own body weight, effectively removing it from the fight.

The Blue Beetle also had a weapon, which (perhaps as another joke) he called his BB gun, although unlike Megamind the Beetle's weapon of choice was usually only used in extreme emergencies and only had two settings. One emitted a bright flash of light that would temporarily blind his opponents, and the other emitted a compressed air blast with the power to knock down a rhino which he used to force his enemies back. He used the former setting on the BB gun now; blinding several of the G-Elves who had the misfortune of looking in his general direction when the gun went off. Beetle took their distraction (and being blinded was certainly distracting) to somersault into their midst, using his skills in the martial arts of karate and aikido liberally as he tried to take down as many as possible before they recovered.

Booster Gold was trying to keep the G-Elves at bay by shooting them at a distance with the energy blasts that came from his wrist blasters, but the seemingly unending horde soon managed to get past him and he was forced to rely on his suit-given super strength to keep them from getting the best of him. Skeets hovered above his head, happily zapping G-Elves without abandon with his own energy blaster. Skeets always seemed happy, although whether it was because he was actually feeling the emotion or was just designed to simulate a cheery demeanor to make humans feel more at ease with him was anyone's guess.

Megamind was hard pressed to keep the G-Elves at bay, although he was a decent hand-to-hand fighter (he had been learning recently) he was still largely dependent on his technology and Minion to protect him when facing more than a few opponents at a time. He didn't even have time to switch the setting on his de-gun from de-bilitate back to his favorite setting of de-hydrate. He merely shot as many creatures as he could, their new-found lack of strength causing them to collapse on the floor, which was slightly helpful as it made the G-Elves behind them have to crawl over them to get to him, thusly slowing their advance.

"Sir, look out!" Minion cried, as _something_ hard hit the back of his hand, causing his de-gun to fly out of his hand and across the room. Within moments, Minion was there, punching the offending G-Elf who dared to strike his friend in the face. "Go, Sir, I'll take care of them!" Minion called as he grappled with yet another G-Elf.

Megamind scrambled across the room, agilely dodging the blows of several G-Elves until he reached his gun. He dove for it, grabbed it up, and twisted around, firing it without hesitating. Two more G-Elves collapsed to the ground under its beam.

Even while he fought, he realized that there was something different about the way his gun was felling his opponents; the debilitate setting made his opponents so weak they couldn't move, but although the G-Elves were definitely not capable of getting up, they were also struggling most fiercely. It was if they were being held down—oh, no! His eyes widened as he realized the clear, yet glossy sheen now covering the downed G-Elves. Curses, not this setting! Well, as long as Minion didn't say anything, maybe no one would notice…

Unfortunately, Minion looked up and noticed what was happening. He had always been fond of this particular setting, and so without any hesitation he cried in delight, "Sir! It's been a long time since you used the Decoupage setting."

He was going to kill Minion…

Blue Beetle punched a G-Elf in the face, then quickly kicked another in the gut, did a backwards somersault and ended it by dropping down along the ground and sweeping his leg around in a wide angle, knocking three more off their feet. Then he looked up at Megamind with a mischievous grin on his face. "Decoupage?" he snickered.

"I made that setting for Minion!" Megamind cried defensively, his face turning dark purple.

"I'm just assuming the fact that I have no idea what 'decoupage' is means it's something that only geeks bother to care about," Booster Gold called from over the room, not bothering to pause his attacks. And just like that, the subject was dropped, although by the look on the Beetle's face, it would probably be brought up again at a better time.

The five of them (counting Skeets and Minion) were continually pressed back towards the middle of the room, until finally they were all back to back, literally surrounded by hundreds of G-Elves on every side.

"They have to out-noombar us eighty to one!" Megamind moaned.

"Outnumber, Sir," Minion corrected quickly, an instinctive reaction because it honestly couldn't matter at this particular moment.

"A Beetle Boy would so come in handy right now," Blue Beetle sighed. "Well, guys, no doubt Super Man would have some amazing words of encouragement right about now, and I wish he were here because I'd sure like to hear them."

"His invincibility wouldn't hurt either," Booster Gold commented.

"I've always been partial to his heat vision, myself," Skeets added cheerfully.

"Do we _have_ to talk about how awesome Superman is right now?" Megamind wondered aloud.

"You have to admit Sir, his freeze breath would definitely slow them down," Minion reminded his friend.

 _HOLD._

That single word suddenly exploded in Megamind's head, louder than his stereo when he turned up the full volume, and his mind felt like it was about to explode from the sheer force of the word. The blue genius screamed and fell to his knees, clutching his head. In a few moments, the pain faded, however, and Megamind managed to look up to see a new creature had entered the room. This one was taller, stood straight, and was dressed in a scientist's uniform. Like the G-Elves, he had long, pointed ears, yet he also had two long horns coming from his forehead. His red eyes looked directly at Megamind intently, as if interested in some new discovery.

"What…" the blue genius started, but the new creature turned his attention towards Megamind's teammates, and the horns atop his head glowed brightly. Megamind got the instinct impression that it was communicating telepathically, and decided to leave him out of the loop after his earlier reaction to telepathic command to hold. Stupid weakness to telepathy! That was probably the _dumbest_ weakness to have.

After several minutes of nothing but (he assumed) telepathic communication, finally Blue Beetle nodded. "Alright. Alright, we will."

The creature nodded, looking pleased, and with a further glow of his horns, all of the creatures disappeared.

"What was that all about?" Megamind asked.

"That guy called himself Dubbilex," Beetle explained. "Those things were scientific life forms that were created by this Project Cadmus group, but they decided they don't want to do whatever the government wants them to do. They're letting us go, as long as we take the scientists they've stashed in the stasis chambers with us and don't come back."

"And we're just going to let them have the station?" Megamind asked, bewildered.

"Well, for one thing, we don't have much of a choice. For another, Dubbilex is pretty persuasive, and for some reason I don't doubt him when he says it would be in our best interests to leave them alone. Anyway, we'll get out of here and get the scientists to safety, report to the League and _they_ can decide what the proper course of action is here."

"Sounds like a plan," Booster Gold said tiredly as they started to deactivate the stasis pods so they could get the scientists to the Javelin. "We're not getting any cred for this mission anyway."

Minion, seeing that Megamind was still unhappy with the decision, added, "They say discretion is the better part of valor, Sir. You know that temporary retreats can work to our advantage."

He did at that, he often had to make hasty retreats to keep from having to go to jail so he could complete particularly complex plans to defeat Metro Man back in his villain days. But he hadn't thought that _heroes_ did that sort of thing. Heroes didn't retreat; heroes always won the first time around.

Right?

The team quickly got the scientists to the Javelin and lifted off, eager to get as far away from the freaky space station as quickly as possible. As soon as they were safely away, Beetle eased off on the throttle and turned in his seat, giving Megamind an easy grin. "So…decoupage, huh?"

Oh, he was _so_ going to kill Minion.


	9. Chapter 9

**Big surprise at the end of this chapter, and as I don't want to ruin it, my author notes will be at the end of the chapter this time. Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, Dreamworks and DC and Warner Bros does.**

The Blue Beetle's name was Ted Kord, and he owned a corporation named K.O.R.D. Industries, one of the few industries in the world not currently a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, although the board of directors was telling him that it was just a matter of time before they merged with it. Until then, he had a friendly rivalry with Wayne; and he was pretty annoyed when he discovered that nearly every super-smart genius hero on the station had already agreed to work for or with Wayne Enterprises exclusively. He didn't know how Wayne was recruiting genius superheroes; but _two_ could play at that game. (He had already gotten Dr. Light interested.)

But League business before corporation business. First they needed to find one of the Core League members and explain what had happened, what was on the station, and that the scientists had been taken to a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. (That just happened to be where they had landed when they returned to earth to drop them off.) And that all of them would recover.

You wouldn't think finding one of five people dressed in long underwear and capes or a woman in a glorified bathing suit would be hard, but stick them in a space station where _everyone_ wore long underwear and capes or glorified bathing suits and it becomes a little harder. They ran into Green Lantern before they met J'onn, so Beetle decided to save a few minutes and just let him know about what happened.

In retrospect, that was a mistake. But hey, how was he supposed to know that Green Lantern was chomping at the bit for an excuse to kick Megamind out of the League?

No sooner had the words, 'we had to fall back' popped out of Beetle's mouth, Green Lantern started to accuse their blue-skinned comrade.

"Running away might be fine for a cowardly criminal like you, but heroes don't run when things get tough," Lantern told him.

"But I—"

Lantern cut him off, not pausing in his accusations, going so far as to accuse Megamind of masterminding the whole scenario (which was stupid) and Megamind seemed to, well, fold in on himself. He didn't attempt to set the record straight again; he just stood there, staring at the ground, and let Green Lantern villainize him.

Well, if Megamind wouldn't defend himself, the Blue Beetle would. And fast, because that fish of Megs' looked like he was about to punch Lantern in the mouth, and a brawl would make things worse for everybody.

Green Lantern was saying something about how, "you're the sorriest excuse for a hero I've ever seen," and Beetle opened his mouth to chew him out, but surprisingly, Booster Gold beat him to it.

"Oh, would you just shut up already?" the golden-costumed hero griped. "You weren't going to give us any credit if the mission was a stellar success, so you can't give us any grief because it didn't go the way you wanted, you glorified bling-bling boy."

Green Lantern paused, staring at Booster incredulously. "Bling-bling boy?" he repeated.

"Besides, _I_ gave the order to fall back," Beetle added quickly. "Megamind was the _only one_ who tried to convince us not to retreat. So shove that in your pipe and smoke it!" With that, he grabbed Megamind's arm and led him away. "C'mon, let's get out of here and let _some people_ be happy all alone with their paranoid delusions."

Green Lantern watched them walk away, grudgingly having to admit that he had been wrong—this time. But Megamind still couldn't be trusted. He noticed with interest the look the fish-gorilla was sending him as they left was definitely a sign that he shouldn't enter any dark alleys alone with him any time soon for sure. With that observation, the Lantern turned and went to find the other Core members to inform them of this latest development.

Megamind wasn't quite sure what had happened, as nobody had ever bothered to stick up for him before when someone was telling him how poorly he had done, since it hadn't come up since he had changed his ways and when he was evil nobody had cared too. As such, he had no idea what the proper procedure was now that somebody had done so. Should he thank them? Offer them a gift or a favor? He would have to ask Roxanne when he got home.

Luckily, neither of the heroes were acting as if there was some sort of social custom that he was neglecting, so he at least wasn't offending them. He wouldn't want to offend them after they had stood up for him like that.

After they had left Green Lantern's line of sight, Booster grinned and stepped away from them. "See you later guys. I gotta go let J'onn know I'm available so he can send me on the _good_ missions to increase my rep." With that, he and Skeets darted off.

That just left Megamind, Minion, and the Beetle, and the awkward silence that settled around the three seemed to get all the more thicker with each passing moment. Megamind knew he should probably say something, but for the life of him, he couldn't think of a single thing. Socializing looked so much easier on the television.

"Oh, geez," Beetle finally sighed. "You're probably going to think I'm a total creep for asking now, and that I just told off the Lantern so you'd say yes—but I didn't, I mean, I _want_ you to say yes, of course, but that's not why I told him off…and I'm rambling." He closed his eyes, though one couldn't tell with the goggles he wore and muttered, "This is a great way to make a spiel, Beetle."

Megamind didn't understand some of that—mostly the comment about spilling, as Blue Beetle had no liquids or any other type of object dropping accidentally from his grasp—but he did catch the basic drift. "You want to ask me a que-este-oon?" he asked, just to make sure this wasn't another of those weird social terms that always threw him for a loop.

"Well, yeah, I do." The Blue Beetle gave him a grin that was sort of apologetic as he continued. "And this really isn't the best time for it, but I just _know_ if I wait the next time I meet you you'll be on Wayne's payroll, and then I'll have lost my chance. The thing is, I have this…this _friend_ ," he stressed the word 'friend' overmuch, Megamind noted. "Who has a research and development company, who's been looking to hire some more inventors."

"That's nice," Megamind said finally, when it appeared that the Beetle wasn't going to further elaborate.

Beetle, realizing that Megamind wasn't getting it, added, "And he'd really appreciate it if you'd accept his offer."

Megamind frowned, then gawked as he realized what was being asked. "You mean, as a job? A legal job?"'

"Yes!" Beetle jumped on the nibble. "He'll pay 75,000 annually, which is average for a research & development engineer in your home state, um, but we can negotiate price, and stuff. You think about it, and let me know, ok?"

Megamind looked thoughtful. "You're sure your friend wants _me_ , right? I understand he would want super geniuses who're in the League, but he might not feel comfortable hiring a former super villain, you know."

"Trust me, he wants _you_ ," Beetle said, a secretive grin on his face. "I know Ted Kord so well, sometimes it's like we're the same person."

"As in K.O.R.D. Industries?" Megamind asked, seemingly absentmindedly. "They have a branch office in Metrocity; I've robbed it several times over the years."

"Great! Then you're familiar with the facility's layout." Beetle saw through the ruse for what it was; a rather sneaky way to test the waters to see just how sincere the offer truly was. "You won't even have to do anything too different than you're doing now. You just get legal access to K.O.R.D. Industries materials and labs, and maybe help the other scientists out a bit every now and again, but basically all you _have_ to do is whenever you make an invention that won't destroy the world should it fall into the wrong hands, you let K.O.R.D. Industries patent it so they can promote it and stuff. They'll pay you extra bonuses if your inventions make a lot of money," he added quickly.

Megamind nodded thoughtfully and stroked his goatee as he thought. "OK," he said finally.

"Ok, as in you'll think about it?" Beetle asked hopefully.

"Ok, as in I'll take it," Megamind clarified.

"Seriously?" Ted Kord was thrilled, and it showed clearly in the Beetle's body language. "You don't want to shop around, see if you can get a better offer or anything?"

"Why should I?" Megamind asked. "K.O.R.D. Industries has the only major research and development plant in Metrocity, they're willing to hire me, and I recently find myself with a serious need to find a way to acquire cash legally. It's only logical that I accept the offer."

"Great!" Beetle couldn't keep the smile off his face. "That's perfect. You get a job, I…my _friend_ get's one of the world's most brilliant inventors on his payroll and everybody's happy!"

"But what do _you_ get out of this, Beetle?" Megamind asked, as if he hadn't noticed the Beetle's slip of the tongue, although he certainly had. It gave new meaning to the earlier remark about Ted Kord and Blue Beetle seeming like the same person, not that he would ever tell anyone that.

Beetle's grin turned a bit mischievous. "Well, it _does_ give me the right to get one of those decoupage guns…" he hinted, before laughing at the scowl Megamind gave him.

* * *

Megamind swiftly made his way to the table 'belonging' to the Order of Reformed Super Villains Plus One and retrieved his flier/blueprint from Plastic Man, who couldn't stay long to visit as he was soon called away on League business. Firestorm had left a half-hour ago. With nothing else to do, Megamind took his leave of the tower and returned to his Law-Abiding Lair (and for the record, he hated that name too, and would not use it again).

The reformed hero and his fishy friend walked into their lair, pet a few brainbots and threw a wrench for them, and narrowly evaded one particularly bad bot who was _still_ determined to chew Megamind's arm, and walked deeper into their lair, the air around them ringing with evil laughter. Because, face it, they were in a good mood, their recent financial dilemma had been solved, and evil laughter was as natural to them as breathing. And it was hard not to do the evil laughter at all during their trips to the Watchtower; Megamind for one needed a break from anti-evil vigilance. It was just _laughter_. After all, it's not like he was planning to take over the city. Been there, done that.

The duo reached the back, Minion stopping briefly to feed Megacat who bit Megamind on the leg as she was in a contrary mood today, but her teeth couldn't penetrate the leather and so other than to give her the, "No, no, no, no, no biting," finger wag formerly reserved for his brainbots, he let her be as she meowed at him before rushing to her food bowl to eat Purina cat chow.

Megamind's previous good mood doubled when he saw the readout showing how close the download for their new robot was to being completed. "Minion, it's almost done, it's almost done!" he said excitedly, doing a happy little dance in his glee. "Quickly, go call Roxanne!"

"Right away, Sir!" Megamind's excitement was infectious, it seemed, for Minion's delighted smile mirrored his boss's as he rushed for the phone.

"And remember not to tell her! It's a surprise!" Megamind called after him eagerly before sitting in his big leather chair and waiting for the download's completion.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the download finished and with unrivaled glee, Megamind disconnected his robot from his computer terminal. His excitement turned to wonder as the robot's body twitched, and finally she opened her eyes, revealing pale irises with just the slightest hint of pink tint…

* * *

Unlike her boyfriend, Roxanne Ritchi had _not_ had a good day. Her latest camerawoman, a girl named Zoe, was so airheaded she had actually forgotten to turn the camera on at all during the day, and one of the things Roxanne had had to cover was an important, exclusive interview with the mayor. She had called him after she had found out, but the mayor had stated that he was busy and wouldn't be able to do another interview for another week, if he let them have another exclusive interview at all instead of using a more 'reliable' news network. Needless to say, Zoe was now unemployed, and Roxanne was out yet another camera crew. Roxanne's pay for today had also been docked, even though she had performed her job admirably and it hadn't been her fault Zoe was an idiot.

Then Minion called her just as she was beginning to relax at home, being tired from the unproductive, completely wasted day, and insisted that she had to come to the Lair, _right now._ He wouldn't tell her why, although he did say that Megamind had gotten a job today at K.O.R.D. Industries, which was good news at least, as her boyfriend's budget had slowly gotten tighter and tighter and she had seriously been thinking that she would have to start supporting him and Minion as well as herself.

With a sigh, she made her way down to Megamind's Lair, eagerly greeted at the door by an extremely happy boyfriend. This was rare; he hardly ever came to greet her himself, as he tried hard not to make himself seem desperate or clingy. He usually failed at that, but normally it was in a cute, insecure, adorable way. Today it seemed he was too excited to care about things like that.

"Roxanne!" he cried, his eyes literally dancing with boyish delight. "I got you a _present_!"

Roxanne couldn't help but smile back at him, his obvious pleasure in giving her a present reminiscent of a little child and it was that childlikeness that was part of the reason she loved him. "What is it?" she asked, amused.

"Ah, ah, ah," he grinned at her mischievously. "That would spoil the surprise, my dear Ms. Ritchi."

Playing along, Roxanne rolled her eyes. "Surprise? Megamind, you're so predictable."

"Predictable?" Still smiling, her boyfriend did something that was a cross between skipping and a complex dance step and made his way to the red curtain. "Do you call this predictable?" he asked, throwing the curtain back.

Roxanne's smile faded and she gawked at the robot that Megamind had brought back the other day, who was wearing a slimmer, more feminine version of Megamind's jumpsuit, looking all the world like a female version of her boyfriend with hair. Oh, and she was sitting up on the table, swinging her legs back and forth, with a smile on her face that rivaled her boyfriend's own.

"Ollo," the robot said, giggling cheerfully. "I'm Indigo. And you're Roxanne! I'm going to be your new camerawoman, and that makes me so happy!"

Roxanne looked over to Megamind in shock, but the happy yet relatively innocent expression on his face confirmed that this wasn't some sort of joke. "Surprise!" he said excitedly. "Do you like it?"

* * *

Ted Kord would call this a good day. He hummed to himself happily as he exited his airship, lovingly named 'The Bug' and stepped back into his own hideout. He'd been struggling to keep K.O.R.D. Industries out of the red recently, but hopefully Megamind's patents would be a great help keeping the business out of Bruce Wayne's pockets, as the businessman was hinting that he would eagerly buy Ted out. If push came to shove, and in the end Ted _did_ have to sell, then he would ensure that Megamind at least would not be fired as part of his terms and conditions. (Technically, Wayne Enterprises couldn't fire someone on the basis that they had a checkered past if that person did not participate in unethical activities anymore, but that didn't mean it wouldn't happen.) Ted liked the genius, and after practically begging Megamind to work for him it would be a shame for him to lose his job because Ted had the business sense of a brick.

Ted sighed, then wearily pulled off the Blue Beetle mask, his eyes blinking as they took in the world around them without the yellow tint his mask always gave everything, and took a seat in front of his computer, casually flinging his mask onto the desk. He took a look around his hideout fondly, pausing to take a better look at items of sentimental value, or perhaps things he had run across during his adventures that were just plain dangerous, that he had placed here for safekeeping. His eyes made their way to the center of his makeshift museum (for there was no other word for it) and widened in shock as he realized one of the glass cases had been shattered.

No. Oh, no.

"The Scarab!" Ted was on his feet in an instant, making his way over to where the Scarab, an item his late mentor, Dan Garrett, had used to become the original Blue Beetle. Garratt had found the Scarab in a Pharaoh's tomb on an archeological expedition in Egypt. The Scarab had granted him super strength, the ability to fly, and the ability to produce energy charges from his hands. Garratt had been certain that there was more secrets the Scarab had that he had yet to unlock, yet he had died before he could find out. And Ted…well, Ted couldn't even get the Scarab to turn on for him.

He had initially given the Scarab to his uncle, Dr. Jarvis Kord, in hopes that he would be able to unlock the secrets that Dan had so longed to find, only to discover that Jarvis had tried to reverse engineer it to create an army of Beetle droids to take over Ted's hometown, Hub City. He still shuddered to think just how _close_ he had come to dying that day…

But anyway, he was fine, the Scarab was recovered, and dear old Uncle Jarvis had taken a free all-expenses-paid trip to the Happy Padded Party Room, compliments of his rather ticked-off nephew. And the Scarab had been placed on a pedestal in his hideout, ignored but definitely not forgotten. Better that no one used the Scarab's power rather than someone using it for evil purposes.

Now though, the glass that he had kept the Scarab behind was broken, shattered, and the Scarab itself was nowhere to be found. Who could have managed to find this place, evade the security, and then only take the Scarab but nothing else? Almost afraid of what he would find, Ted quickly brought up the security cameras to find out the identity of his mystery thief.

The truth was not what he expected, but perhaps disturbing in and of itself. It turned out, no one had taken the Scarab. It had just powered up suddenly and flew out by itself.

Ted leaned back, cupping his chin with his hand and frowning. Why had the Scarab suddenly powered up and left all of a sudden, when it had been dormant for years now, refusing to so much as spark whenever anyone tried to turn it on? And where was it headed? Well, one thing was certain; it would seem that Ted was finally going to witness the secrets that his mentor had wished to see so desperately.

He wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing.

* * *

 **El Paso, Texas…**

Two teenagers were in a vacant lot behind the local McDonald's, one, a thin, scrawny boy with shoulder-length black hair, scrambling around the lot as if looking intently for something, and the other, a young man with a crew cut and a body that would make him perfect for football, looking bored out of his wits.

"I'm telling you, Paco, I saw something hit the ground over here. Like a meteor or something," the thin one said as he looked around.

"Yeah, yeah, you said that ten minutes ago when you came out here," Paco said, sounding suitably unimpressed. "Face it, Jaime, there's nothing here. And it's getting late, and stuff."

"Well, you can go if you want," Jaime Reyes said matter-of-factly. "I'll just be a few more minutes. I bet I can find it. Hey, maybe it's Kryptonite! Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Um, yeah, I guess," Paco replied, rolling his eyes at Jaime's eager love of all things superheroish. "See you tomorrow, I guess."

"Later, Paco," Jaime called after his friend's retreating form, not bothering to pause in his search.

A few minutes later, he noticed what appeared to be a blue…thingy…half-hidden behind a rock. Curious, Jaime picked it up. It looked like... "Some sort of bug?" he guessed, turning it around.

Suddenly, the mandibles on the Scarab-like thing suddenly lit up, and it shot out of Jaime's hands, and—there was no other explanation for it—burrowed its way into his back.

"AH!" Jaime screamed in agony, trying to grab the thing, but it was positioned in that _one_ place on the back you can never reach, and he couldn't grasp it. And suddenly, the pain was gone as quickly as it came. Jaime caught his breath, panting as he wondered what the heck that was about, when blue-and-black armor suddenly extended itself around his body, covering him with a futuristic-looking version of the Blue Beetle uniform.

" _Hello, Jaime."_

"What's that? Who's there?" Jaime looked around, freaking out as he tried to figure out what the heck was happening to him.

" _I'm the suit, Jaime."_

"The…suit?" Jaime looked at his now-gloved hands, then his gaze turned to his shoulders. A mandible-like growth was on either side of his shoulders, and now that he was paying attention, he noticed that they lit up whenever the words showed up in his head. (There was no other term for it, it wasn't actually audible speech, and though he had no experience with telepathy it seemed different from that too.)

" _I was sent to this world to find a suitable host, a being of pure-hearted intent, Jaime, and I found you,"_ the suit continued.

"Huh." Jaime had many questions, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was 'huh.' Deciding that that probably wasn't the best way to figure out what to make of this thing that had burrowed itself into its back and turned him into some sort of armored insect, he added, "Do you uh, have a name? Besides 'the suit'?"

There was a pause, then the suit answered. _"Many people on your planet call me the Scarab. But my given name is Khaji Da."_

"Cay-gih Dah?" Jaime said aloud, unintentionally mangling the name.

After another silence, Khaji Da spoke again. _"Call me Suit."_

"Can do," Jaime said cheerfully. "So, what exactly do you want? Because I'm not going to attack Tokyo, if that's what this is about."

" _No, we're not going to attack Tokyo, Jaime,"_ Suit said, sounding amused. _"We're going to protect your world."_

Jaime's eyes widened beneath the full-face mask. "You mean like super heroes?" he asked.

" _Yeah. Like super heroes."_

"No. Freaking. Way." Jaime stood there for a long moment, frozen to the spot in shock. Then an excited, pleased grin crossed his face. "THIS IS AWESOME!" he shrieked.

 **Yes, being the extremely selfish person I am, I want BOTH Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes in my fic, with NO character deaths. *Grabs Megamind's de-gun and aims it at the writers at DC who killed off Ted Kord.* I WANT TED HE'S MINE! NOBODY KILLS HIM! AND I WANT JAIME TOO! *Tackles Jaime to the ground in an attempt to claim ownership.***

 **Jaime Reyes' name, for future references, is pronounced Hi-May Ray-az.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A cookie for CrossoverFan, who totally called the type of interaction shown between Ted and Jaime, which either means that CrossoverFan's psychic or that I'm woefully predictable…but I'm going with the first one. ;)**

 **Two cookies for Scarlet-Frost, who has made a picture on DeviantART based on the fic! You can see it here at scarlet-frost . deviant art #/ d3g nq r9 (delete spaces, of course.) And a shout out to her as the Flash and Megamind's meeting was inspired by her pic.**

 **And that's it for my announcements! Disclaimer: I don't own this.**

 **Question: I have a question.**

 **Me: Uh? What?**

 **Question: Is it not true that you realized when you started this that the original Green Lantern's name was Hal Jordan, and the Justice League's Lantern is John Stewart, and by combining these names you get Hal Stewart, and** _ **that**_ **is the reason you are so determined to villainize Green Lantern in your story?**

 **Me: O.O**

 **Question: I think you should pose the question of why a baby was raised in a prison in this fiction.**

 **Me: OH, no you don't! The conspiracy theory of Why Megamind Was Raised in Prison has been answered/addressed in practically EVERY Megamind fanfiction to date! Except fluffy ones that are just there to prove how adorable MegaRox is.**

 **Question: Or perhaps that's what they WANT you to think.**

 **Me: Get out of here, you loon!**

Roxanne gawked at Megamind and Indigo, the part of her brain that made her a brilliant investigative reporter noticing that the excited looks on their faces were exact matches of each other. Apparently the robot was mimicking Megamind's reactions, although she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. She still wasn't sure if just having a robot of unknown origin around was good.

"Um, well," she had to say _something_ , but she still wasn't quite sure what she _could_ say about this recent development. "I'm…not sure my boss will let me use a random robot off the street as my camerawoman."

"We can ask," Megamind suggested, taking out his phone. "I'll call him right now!"

"Ooh, can I push the buttons?" Indigo asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Roxanne started, but was ignored as Megamind and Indigo were busy taking turns pushing the individual buttons on Megamind's cell phone in order to call her boss. Her brow furrowed, and she rubbed her temple to stave off a headache.

"I'm sorry, Miss Ritchi," Minion told her apologetically, offering her a chair. "I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't hear of it. He really wanted to impress you."

Roxanne gave the fish a wane smile, to show she wasn't harboring ill will towards her boyfriend's 'surprise' or Minion's inability to talk him out of it.

"Ollo? Is this KMPC Chenille 8 news?" Megamind asked into the phone.

"Channel, Sir," Minion called over to him.

"Channel, right. Channel 8?" Megamind paused for a second. His eyes lit up at whatever answer he was given. "Great! Let me talk to Roxanne's boss."

After another pause in which Indigo had started to bob her head and hum the tune of 'Back in Black', Megamind had finally gotten ahold of who he was after. "Ollo? Yes, this is Megamind, Roxanne's boyfriend. I have a robot who wants to be Roxanne's new camerawoman, will you give my robot a job?" He paused to hear the man's reply. "Pay? I don't know, I'll ask." He covered the phone with a hand and asked, "How much pay are you asking?"

Indigo gave him a blank look. "Um, how much do I need to be Roxanne's camerawoman?" she asked.

"I don't know," Megamind admitted. Talking back into the phone, he asked, "how much would you suggest?"

Roxanne fought the urge to groan as Megamind happily agreed to less than a fourth of what was customary pay for a camera operator, as she knew full well that her boss would hire any incompetent with the ability to hold up a camera for that amount of money, and tried to tell herself that Indigo couldn't possibly be as bad as Zoe.

"You will?" Just as Roxanne predicted, the ecstasy that crossed her boyfriend's face proved that her hunch was correct and her boss had in fact hired Indigo. "That's fantastic! She'll be there bright and early tomorrow morning!" Hanging up, he laughed and practically skipped over to Roxanne, swinging her around in a happy hug. "He said yes!" he laughed.

"Yay!" Indigo cheered, rushing to put her arms around Megamind and Roxanne for a group hug, extending said arms so they actually wrapped completely around the other two twice.

Well, Roxanne had known when she started to date him that she would never have a dull moment. She just hoped in the future, his 'surprises' wouldn't be quite as surprising as this one.

The group hug continued until Megamind's League issued two-way earphone started to ring, and the blue genius let go, only to find that Indigo's arms were preventing him from answering the phone, or even moving. "Indigo, you can let go now," he informed the robot.

"Ok," Indigo agreed, retracting her arms to let Megamind and Roxanne go. Megamind reached up and pat the machine on the head, causing her to giggle and Roxanne to roll her eyes before he answered his earphone.

"Ollo?" he asked, listening to the voice on the other side. He frowned. "What do you mean I have to come to the Watchtower right away? I was just there! Can't it wait?…Oh…I see. It absolutely can't wait? At all?" He sighed. "Fine. I'll be there. But make it fast, alright? Megamind out."

"What was that about?" Roxanne asked after he had ended the conversation. Her boyfriend sighed.

"Well, apparently there is some paperwork I neglected to fill out in order to officially join the League," Megamind sighed. "And the due date for filing it is today, so I have to go back now. But it won't take long," he added quickly. "Just need to sign some things."

Roxanne nodded in understanding. Megamind had been busier lately, what with the League business and all, but he had seemed happier now that he had met others who shared his interests and didn't treat him like a freak. Roxanne didn't regret his joining the League, though if things kept up like this she would have to see if he couldn't barter for a little time off every now and again.

"Should I fulfill my secondary programming while you leave?" Indigo asked, sounding hopeful.

Megamind considered. Indigo's secondary programming was to protect Metro City in times of his absence. But he wasn't sure she was ready for solo heroics at the moment. "Not right now," he concluded. "I want to go with you the first few times, to show you the strings, as it were."

"The term is to show her the ropes, Sir," Minion corrected.

Indigo looked around, confusion clear on her features. "I don't see any strings or ropes!" she lamented.

Megamind pat her head again. "That's because I have yet to show them to you, my dear. Come Minion! Paperwork waits for no man nor super-cool alien genius." With that, he gave Roxanne an affectionate peck on the cheek, then he flung his cape back grandly and walked out of the lair.

"Coming Sir," Minion said, following him out. "But where are we going? The Watchtower can just pinpoint our location and beam us up from here."

Megamind scowled at him. "I don't want everyone to know the whereabouts of my secret lair, Minion! Because then it wouldn't be a secret! Now follow me to the other end of Metrocity, where we can _safely_ have the Watchtower beam us up!"

* * *

Ted Kord figured he was lucky that the Scarab gave an unique energy signature, otherwise he might never have found it. As it was, it seemed to have decided it liked the local of El Paso, Texas, although it seemed to be continuously moving around a small local there in the past few hours. (It took a long time to get from Hub City to El Paso; they're not exactly close by.)

But finally he was close enough to attempt to retrieve it. The Blue Beetle exited the Bug and made his way up the street, hoping that the Scarab wouldn't try to fight him or anything when he took it back. It needed to be kept somewhere where it couldn't be used for evil.

"Help! My purse!"

The cries of a sweet little old lady in distress caught the Beetle's attention, and he looked across the street where a purse snatcher was rushing away from a horrified white-haired woman. The Beetle sprung into action, but before he could cross the street a…giant blue hammer appeared in an alley the thief was passing and hit him on the head, knocking him out.

Blue Beetle paused, gawking, as a young man dressed in a blue, mechanical suit that was modeled to look similar to a bug walked out of the alley, a big grin on his face as the hammer on his arm morphed back into a had. And clinging onto his back was the (very active) Scarab!

The scarab-using hero picked up the purse and a set of mechanical beetle wings appeared on his back, which he used to casually fly back to the lady, offering her the purse. "Here you are, Ma'am," he said.

The old lady grabbed the purse and immediately started to beat him over the head with it. "HELP! POLICE!" she screamed, not pausing in her attacks.

The boy—for Ted suddenly realized that was what he was—shrieked a high-pitched, girlish scream and tried to cover his head with his arms. "OW! Hey, I'm trying to—Ow! Listen, I just—Ow! Would you stop—OW that HURTS!"

"Somebody help! Get away from me you hooligan! Oh, won't somebody save a poor helpless old lady?" the old woman screamed into the night, still hitting the boy with her purse.

"What have you got in there, rocks? OW! I'm going! I'm going! Just stop hitting—OW!" Frantically, the boy took to his heels and rushed off, the woman still screaming for help behind him until he darted back into the alley he had first appeared in. Amused, the Blue Beetle calmly walked across the street over to where the boy was pressed against the wall, trying to catch his breath.

"OK, that did _not_ go the way I was expecting," he said aloud to no one in particular. The two beetle mandibles on either side of his head lit up, making sounds that reminded the Beetle of computer beeps, and the boy gave a hopeful smile.

"Really? You think so?" he asked, apparently talking to the Scarab.

"Not as easy as it looks, is it?" Ted asked, choosing now to make his presence known. The boy screamed and jumped two feet into the air, then whirled around and gawked at him. Then his face lit up with recognition.

"Wow, you're the Blue Beetle!" he said excitedly. "You're my all-time favorite hero! Besides Batman. And Super Man, oh, and Megamind, he used to be my all-time favorite villain, but now it's a toss up between him and Batman as my favorite hero, and…"

"Ok, ok, I get it kiddo," Beetle said quickly, before he went any lower on the boy's 'all-time favorite hero list.' "And just who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm Jaime," the boy blurted out, then the red bug-like eyes the mask he wore provided for him widened in horror. "I mean…crud!"

"Well, Jaime," the Beetle continued. "I don't know why, but it looks like the Scarab has decided to give you its powers. That means something, but if you really want to take the responsibility of being a hero, you'll need some help. A _lot_ of help."

"Meaning?"

Blue Beetle gave Jaime a big grin. "How'd you like to be my new sidekick?"

"AWESOME!"

* * *

Megamind and Minion appeared in the Watchtower, and just as he was beginning to get his bearings, a loud shriek pierced his ears and he instantly drew his de-gun, looking around for the cause of the distress.

He was bewildered to find that the cause of the noise wasn't frightened or worried, but rather a big, red, bundle of happy. In an instant, the Flash had zoomed right into his face, his shoulders bunched together as his hands bunched up in two separate fists held just under his head. The biggest grin Megamind had ever seen lit up the Fastest Man Alive's face.

"OMG! OMG! You're Megamind!" the Flash squealed like an excited fan girl.

"Um, uh…yes?" Megamind hazarded a guess, a 'what the heck?' look gracing his features.

"Yay! I didn't think this would work but it DID and you're here and I'm here WITH YOU and it's AWESOMESAUCE! Did you know you're awesome? Is that real leather in your cape? Can I touch it?"

"Um, yes, yes, and no," Megamind informed him. "Listen, someone called and said I needed to sign some regularity papers?"

"Registration," Minion whispered in his boss's ear.

"Oh, yes, some registration papers. Do you know where I need to go…"

He was cut off when Flash shoved a piece of paper and a pen under his nose. "I called you and I have them right here! Go ahead and sign this, right on the bottom!"

Megamind's incredulous look grew as he looked down at the first paper, only to have the majority of it covered by Flash's arm. "No! Don't read it!" Flash begged. "I already did that for you and it was fine! Just sign! Please, please sign!"

A little alarmed by now, Megamind hastily scrawled his name on the bottom of the paper, hoping that doing so would placate the Flash before he became any more frightening.

"YAY!" Flash yanked the paper out of Megamind's hands, looked at it happily, and then hugged it. "I got it!" he laughed. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

"You're welcome?" It came out more like a nervous question than a statement. Somewhat reluctantly, Megamind extended his hand since Roxanne had told him that it was polite to do so when you met someone. Flash squealed again and shook it eagerly.

"I'm Flash," he said happily. "AND YOU TOUCHED MY HAND!"

Now completely freaked out, Megamind quickly yanked his hand away from Flash's who was looking at his own hand happily. "I'll never wash this suit again!" he vowed, before running through the Watchtower, waving the paper over his head and screaming, "I got it!" to everyone he passed.

After several minutes in which Minion and Megamind stared after Flash with bewildered expressions, Megamind finally found his voice. "What. Was. That?" he asked slowly and with a great deal of confusion.

"I don't know Sir," Minion admitted. "I don't know."

"Sirs, could you step off the platform?" the transporter techie asked, sounding bored. "Someone else is requesting a beam up."

"Huh? Oh! Oh, yes, of course." Still in a semi-daze, Megamind and Minion quickly stepped off the platform, as it powered up again and Blue Beetle and…someone…stepped off, and the look on the second costumed person's face was scarily similar to the one Flash had worn.

"I can't believe this I'm on the Watchtower!" the Beetle's guest shrieked. Then he caught sight of Megamind and made the same squealing noise Flash had made earlier. "I'm standing in the same room as Megamind!" he cried.

Blue Beetle gave Megamind an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, he's just a little over-eager. We'll work on it."

Megamind nodded mutely. "And uh, who is he, exactly?"

"I'm Jai—" whatever the teen was about to say was stifled as Blue Beetle covered his mouth with his hand.

"This is my new sidekick," he said proudly. "Beetle Boy."

Beetle Boy quickly pushed Blue Beetle's hand away and gave him an unfriendly glare, his proximity to Megamind forgotten in his ire. " _Beetle Boy_?" he asked incredulously. "Nuh-uh, nothing doing. I'm the Blue Beetle!"

Blue Beetle rolled his eyes. "You're not the Blue Beetle, I am."

"I should totally be the Blue Beetle!"

"You can't handle the name Blue Beetle, kiddo," Blue Beetle replied.

"Seems to me that if I can handle the Scarab—which by the way _you can't_ —I should be more than capable of handling the name Blue Beetle!" his new sidekick shot back.

"Just because you have powers doesn't mean you're a superhero, you know," Blue Beetle replied.

"Oh yeah, says who?"

"Does the name _Metro Man_ ring any bells?"

There was a long pause, then finally the new guy sighed and nodded his head. "Ok, I admit it, you make a good point, but still, _Beetle Boy_? Can't you come up with a name better than _Beetle Boy_?"

"What's wrong with it? You're modeled after a beetle and you're a boy. Would you rather I call you Beetle Girl?"

"What? No! But it's just so…" he tried to think of the word. "Lame."

"You think that's lame? Flash named his sidekick Kid Flash. And Green Arrow's little buddy got hooked with the name Speedy," Blue Beetle pointed out.

"….Ok, that makes _no_ sense. But still! Just because every other hero names their sidekicks something stupid doesn't mean _I_ should be called something stupid!"

"Hey, hey, hey, inside voices," Megamind quickly positioned himself between the two arguing beetles, trying to come up with a reasonable solution that would please all involved. He looked over to the pouting sidekick. "From what I have been able to deduce, you got the Blue Beetle's Scar-ab to give you powers?"

"Scarab," the boy replied. "And yes, I did."

"Fine! Then call yourself the Blue Scarab!" Megamind said, looking pleased with the suggestion.

The boy perked up. "That's not half bad," he said happily.

"Thanks anyway, Megs, but we're just going to stick with Beetle Boy," Blue Beetle gave Megamind a wink to show that he was joking to get under his new sidekick's skin, and said sidekick fell for the bait hook, line, and sinker.

"It's the Blue Scarab! Not Beetle Boy!"

Blue Beetle rubbed the Blue Scarab's head in an affectionate way. "Whatever you say, Beetle Boy."

"MY NAME IS NOT BEETLE BOY!" Blue Scarab all but screamed at him as the two of them walked away.

Megamind and Minion gave each other worried looks. "I vote we leave. Now." Megamind said before turning and scrambling towards the teleporter.

"Right behind you, Sir!" Minion replied, hot on his heels.


	11. Chapter 11

**Of course you guys knew we weren't finished with Psycho Delic! That's one crazy cat who just won't quit. And I also hope you all realize just how** _ **hard**_ **it is to write the loon. I have to look up so many 60-70's references, after all I wasn't around when Disco wasn't dead, you know. I** _ **think**_ **I didn't misuse any of the phrases but I'm not entirely sure. So anyway, here he is, be happy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own what I don't own.**

Megamind had thought he was prepared to deal with the new challenges creating in what was effectively a new life form, robotic although it may be. And while he still maintained that it was a good idea, he had had no idea how much Indigo would alter his lifestyle merely by her presence.

She mimicked everything; he had to concentrate on magnifying positive ideals and actions and consciously work to suppress the negative ones. She took to duplicating the negative ones with _far_ too much ease for comfort. The last thing he or Metrocity needed was a nearly-invincible robot with an evil laugh and a penchant for launching into evil monologues as a backup protector. She'd already picked up his love for capes, leather, and spikes, and she'd only been online for a day.

On the plus side, Roxanne had taken her to work earlier today, and after assuring her co-workers that the blue-skinned, pinkish/red-eyed redhead with the high-collar black cape, black leather jumpsuit (this particular suit was created long before he had started adding blue to his wardrobe), and spiked gloves wasn't a new super villain come to hold them hostage or something, Indigo had quickly endeared herself to her new co-workers.

Megamind's current goal was to get Minion to make Indigo a custom uniform that would satisfy her newfound desire to look _just like him_ without having to resort to wearing the clothes he'd worn as a teenager. For one thing, Indigo's arms and legs were longer than his had been back when he was fifteen (it was just before his last growth spurt), so they stuck out unflatteringly, letting her wrists and ankles show. Her gloves were also too tight so she was having trouble holding things, as she couldn't get her hands all the way in them. And her collar for her neck, which was naturally attached to a head that was a good deal smaller than Megamind's even when he was fifteen, completely dwarfed said head, making her look quite silly. And it also looked as if it was even impeding her vision. At least she didn't have the custom baby-seal leather boots, although he suspected she would if he'd had an extra pair lying around.

In spite of these hindrances, however, Roxanne had expressed a good deal of delight when she found that Indigo was probably the best cameraperson she'd ever had. She'd actually sounded _surprised_ about it, as if she expected that his brilliant plan wouldn't work. As if anything he made could possibly be a failure! Preposterous! Granted, there was that incident where the doomsday device he had made on the day of Roxanne's first kidnapping didn't fire…and the Roxanne Bots didn't seem to bewilder Metro Man as much as he had hoped…and the Equestrianator…and Hal, he supposed Hal was sort of his fault, though in his defense he never actually _chose_ to give Hal powers and so it wasn't his fault even though it was. But still! You'd think she'd have more faith in him than that.

But even though Indigo was settling in well with her new job by relying entirely on her programming, Megamind wasn't about to trust mere programming when it came to entrusting the android with the welfare of an entire city. The worst she could do as a camerawoman was forget to turn the camera on and get fired while frustrating Roxanne; a mistake as a superhero could cost lives, and that was a price Megamind refused to pay. And so it was he found himself in the increasingly familiar position of training someone who he hoped would become the future hero of Metro City. But he wasn't worried, for he knew Indigo could do better than Hal. Heck, that nut Joker back in Gotham City could do better than Hal. At least _he_ knew the difference between a superhero and a super villain, which was more than Hal had ever learned.

But more than that, Indigo _wanted_ to do better than Hal. She genuinely wanted to become a heroine, but not for personal gain, and that could make all the difference. Another difference was that Indigo would be able to see a real hero in action and learn that way; as much of her previous personality quirks had appeared after watching him do things. She was obsessed with trying to act like him, for reasons he hadn't yet comprehended. Of course, she also copied Minion and Roxanne, but mostly she seemed to want to act like him. But he could work with that! After all, nothing like a little on-the-job training to reinforce programming.

That's why he had taken her on a patrol with him after she had been given an hour for lunch break, since she obviously didn't need to eat and the time could be given to superhero studies. She had been ordered to follow him, watch his actions closely, but not to interfere with anything in any way unless directly instructed by Megamind. It was just the two of them today. Minion had been upset at first, but he had eventually agreed that the sooner he finished Indigo's new costume the better for everyone, there had been practically no criminal activity for months, so they were pretty much going to hop across some rooftops and maybe stop a mugger; and after all, what on earth could _possibly_ happen in one measly little hour? Besides, Megamind had sworn that if anything big happened, he wouldn't do anything until Minion met up with him to help out.

Right now, Indigo was watching him with interest as he stood on the edge of a building, one foot placed dramatically on the little thing that stood around the edges that was there, but couldn't possibly protect anyone should they trip and fall, so why _was_ it there? He didn't know, but it did make for a very convenient tool for heroic posturing. He was showing her one of the staples for clichéd super heroes: looking out over the city and monologuing. This was the one thing heroes did that was somewhat similar the super villain monologues that Megamind had excelled at; so it was one of the quickest hero traditions that he had mastered. As such, he was under the impression that it was the easiest thing for a novice hero to learn.

In a deep, serious tone that Megamind referred to as his 'Hero Voice' he said dramatically, "I gaze out over the city I am sworn to protect, once again renewing my vows to keep each and every citizen safe from harm. Let evildoers beware, for none can stand before the might of Megamind, Incredibly Handsome Super Genius and Master of All Heroics!" He stepped back, then motioned to her. "Now you try. But remember, don't just parrot what I said! You say your own spiel."

"Ok," Indigo said eagerly, stepping to the edge and assuming the same pose Megamind had used. Mimicking his tone, she said in a voice much deeper than she normally used, "I survey the citizens I am designed to protect, my emotional core overwhelming with the robotic equivalent of the desire to defend. Criminals quake with fear at the thought of battling with me, Indigo, Amazingly Beautiful Artificial Intelligence and Mistress of All Stalwartness, for they know they cannot win!"

In spite of himself, Megamind was suitably impressed. It wasn't a bad monolog for the first time, and she even came up with an impressive title to boot. Yes, he could definitely teach her to be an excellent heroine. She just needed a little work.

Suddenly Indigo clapped her hands with glee and pointed out towards the city. "Look, I can see our lair from here!" She squealed with delight. "See? It's the only one with the fake observatory dome on the top. Why do we have a fake observatory top? Why is the sky blue? And why isn't Roxanne blue like we are?"

OK, so she needed a lot of work. At least she wasn't _hopeless_. She was better than Hal already.

Not caring that her questions weren't being answered, Indigo continued to chatter away eagerly. "Why can't we fly like that little birdy can? What's that thing called? Can I have one? Who's the funny purple man on the giant TV?"

Although he had sort of started to tune her out, Megamind snapped back to attention at the last question, as he only knew one 'purple man' to date. A sinking feeling gnawed at the pit of his stomach as he looked out towards the giant TV screens surrounding the Metro Man (More recently redubbed the Megamind) Museum. His uneasy feeling quickly developed into horror as he recognized the purple skull grinning at him from under his feathered hat.

Psycho Delic was in Metro City!

"He looks really happy," Indigo observed, not seeing the horrified look on Megamind's face.

"Indigo," He worked hard to make himself sound nonchalant, not wanting to scare her, although he knew he was failing. She wasn't ready for someone like Psycho Delic. She barely had heroic monologs down, for Pete's Sake! "I want you to go back to the station and stay with Roxanne. If someone tries to attack you, you are to evade them and then take Roxanne back to the Lair and neither of you are to leave until I come back. Do you understand?"

Indigo nodded, her pink eyes wide with confusion and a little bit of worry. Her emotion chip was shockingly well-developed, but right now that wasn't a good thing. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's ok, Indigo. The purple man is evil, and I have to stop him. I'll be back at the lair very soon."

"Promise?" Indigo asked, her voice sounding very small.

Megamind frowned briefly, as such a response should definitely not be part of her programming or her still-developing AI system, but he nodded anyway. "Promise."

Megamind had thought he was prepared to deal with the new challenges creating in what was effectively a new life form, robotic although it may be. But when Indigo suddenly threw her arms around him and said, "OK, Daddy, I love you. Come back to the lair soon, ok?" he realized just how wrong he had been.

By the time the shock had passed, Indigo had already used her powers to fly back towards KMPC news station, and he carefully considered this new revelation.

"Daddy?" he echoed. A small smile tugged the corners of his lips. "I rather like the sound of that." With that, he spoke into his wrist communicator. "Minion, Code: Bring my Anti-Psychic Googletransmogrifier and get downtown as fast as you can!"

"Code: Right away Sir!" Minion's voice replied from his watch. "But if you don't mind me asking, why is the word 'Google' in your invention's title?"

"Code: Because that's where I originally found most of the parts," Megamind explained as if it were obvious. "And hurry!"

* * *

Psycho Delic stood in broad daylight on the platform that led into the Megamind Museum, both hands resting atop the disco-ball themed head on his cane, looking out over the city almost serenely. Appearances were often deceiving; and the fact that every person within eyesight of the museum was screaming and running from horrors that did not exist in a blind panic that would inevitably cause casualties, could attest to that fact. Knowing full well that his face was on the largest television monitors in Metro City, and that the odds were that Megamind, wherever he was, was capable of seeing him, the villain spoke calmly, not yelling although his voice was amplified well enough.

"Megamind, my main man," he said aloud. "I told you we were gonna be tight. So how's it hangin'?" Smirking, he made a show of looking around him to the screaming citizens, or in the case of a few, terrified whimpers as they started to go into shock. "You got a groovy pad to hang loose in here. I think I'll move in. It'll be outta sight man!"

"The only thing I want 'outta sight' is you, Psycho Delic!" Megamind snapped at him, having finally arrived in the Invisible Car, as Minion had picked him up on the way here. What appeared to be a headband with a blinking diode in the middle was wrapped around the blue alien's head.

"Are you for real?" Psycho Delic grinned at Megamind, obviously amused by his new headgear.

"I most certainly am real," Megamind said, not quite sure what Psycho Delic meant but correctly assuming it was some kind of insult. "And I fully intend to take you to justice!"

"Gnarly," Psycho Delic smirked and waved his hand slightly from his cane. The criminal froze slightly when Megamind just smirked at him.

"Your little mind tricks won't work on me this time," the hero of Metro City declared.

"Groovy, man!" Psycho Delic cooed, clapping his hands together grandly. "But you're still a jive turkey, and I can still mess with you."

The criminal turned his gaze to Minion with a sinister smile, and Megamind gasped, realizing what he meant. "Don't you _dare_ —" he hissed, his eyes flashing.

"Up your nose with a rubber hose, man!" the criminal laughed, and in the next instant, Minion howled and clutched his dome (as that was the closest he could get to grabbing his head) and then suddenly froze, his face going blank.

"Minion?" Megamind asked in horror, forgetting Metro City, Psycho Delic, and everything else with his concern for his friend. "Minion, what's wrong? Answer me!"

No matter how he pleaded with the piscine, however, Minion just stood there, unmoving, his face completely and utterly void of anything resembling emotion or thought. Megamind was becoming frantic. "Minion _please!_ Show me you're ok! Minion?"

Despair blanked Megamind's mind as his friend wouldn't so much as twitch to acknowledge him. In the background, Psycho Delic's twisted cackles snapped him back to the present. He looked back to the criminal, hatred burning in his eyes.

"You! Release him NOW, or I'll…"

"Snap?" Psycho Delic snapped his fingers, grinning wickedly. "Chill man. I told you that you're fun to mess with."

With a sound that was half a battle cry and half an animalistic snarl of anger, Megamind launched himself at Psycho Delic wildly. Although he normally would have been suspicious when the criminal did not teleport out of the way in a puff of smoke, right now he was simply too furious to care about anything but throttling this monster until he undid all the damage he had done. In a red haze, Megamind blindly struck the villain over and over around the head and shoulder area, becoming even more furious when the villain continued to gloat at him even while he was being pummeled.

"Sir! NO!" Minion's voice suddenly broke through the fog that surrounded Megamind's mind, and he snapped out of it, instantly becoming horrified at the realization that he had literally tried to beat a man to death with his bare hands. (A twisted one who deserved it, but still.)

"Oh, geez!" Megamind paled and instantly scooted backwards until he felt his best friend's hairy robot-gorilla body against his back, looking at his hands in shock. Despite the fact that he had just been brutally attacked, Psycho Delic stood and straightened his overcoat and put his hat back on, looking none the worse for wear.

Understandably distressed about what had happened, Megamind swallowed and gasped, "Minion, I…"

He was cut off when Minion grabbed him around his middle and literally started to squeeze the life out of him. "I won't let you hurt Sir anymore!" his friend vowed.

"Minion!" Megamind gasped, feeling his arms and ribs straining against the pressure, knowing that sooner or later they would collapse. "Minion, stop! It's me, Minion!"

Behind him, Psycho Delic's laughter rang in his ears. Desperate, Megamind strained to reach his de-gun before Minion crushed him. It was extremely difficult, but he finally managed to reach it. He didn't dare dehydrate Minion, as the fish reacted badly to it, in fact it almost killed him. Demoralize would be counter-productive as he wasn't sure he could reverse the effects after he got rid of Psycho Delic's influence, and he didn't want to turn his friend into a vegetable. Debilitate would hardly work, as Minion's robot body would not be affected, and decoupage would simply leave them both stuck to the ground with no way for him to get out of Minion's death hug. That left three settings: Destroy, Deregulate, and Death Ray. (Shown as De-Athray on the gun.)

Megamind could not, _would_ not, use Death Ray, mostly because he didn't know what it did. He had designed the setting because back in his evil days he had felt that every super villain needed a Death Ray, but he'd never been able to make himself use it. So he didn't know if it really did kill people, or did something else entirely. He certainly wasn't going to use his best friend as a guinea pig to find out!

Deregulate, despite the name, actually messed with electronic sensors, sort of like the EMP Walkman he had, but it was very erratic, as that was the de-gun's newest feature and he hadn't managed to work out all the bugs yet. It didn't work regularly, hence the name. Well, that and he couldn't think of anything else that had the letters "DE" in front of it at the time. Sometimes it merely shut down electronics; other times it caused what he aimed at to combust at a molecular level, completely vaporizing everything that the beam came in contact with. Again: NOT gambling when it came to Minion. Period.

That left De-Stroy. Megamind mostly used that for interesting entrances, and occasionally to dispose of blueprints of designs that wouldn't work should he attempt to make those objects. It could basically melt a hole wherever he aimed the beam. Which means he could either level an entire building—or merely put a small hole in the chest plate of Minion's suit, forcing the fish to shut down the suit without permanently harming his friend. He painfully managed to twist the dial of his de-gun three degrees to the right with the tips of his finger, then he aimed in Minion's general direction and fired.

Minion stumbled back, a gaping hole in his chest that would have been fatal had he not been a fish in a mechanical body, and dropped Megamind. Pleased that he'd taken his friend down without harming him, Megamind pointed the gun in the air and looked over to Psycho Delic with a conceited expression. "Well, I guess you didn't figure on my…"

He was cut off when Minion's hairy fist slammed against his mouth, knocking him to the ground. "Minion?" he gasped in shock, crawling backwards on all fours quickly as his friend took a step towards him and slammed both fists into the pavement so that it cracked, his body sparking as he struggled to continue to fight.

Megamind's eyes widened. "Minion, stand down! If you keep trying to fight while your suit's damaged like this you'll electrocute yourself!"

"I don't care!" Minion snapped at him, his eyes blazing with determination. "Protecting Sir is my _only_ reason for living! I won't let you hurt him again! Even if I have to kill myself to do it!"

"No, Minion!" Megamind shrieked, his eyes widening in horror as he realized that his best friend was literally going to kill him or die trying. "Stand down Minion! Stand down!"

"NEVER!" Minion vowed, pressing his attack. Megamind rolled out of the way and scrambled back to his feet. Unable to bring himself to attack Minion again, he merely dodged the fish's attacks. His friend's suit was sparking more and more; it was only a matter of time before those sparks were conducted through the water. Megamind knew he had to take out Psycho Delic, and fast, or Minion was done for. But Minion, under the impression that Psycho Delic was _him_ , wouldn't let him near the monster. Frantic, Megamind looked around the battlefield in desperation for something to give him an advantage.

And his eyes fell on a blue redhead holding up a camera to record the battle, although Roxanne was nowhere to be found. Megamind had no idea why the robot was there, and she would probably have a lot of explaining to do later, but for now, he really didn't care. Her presence gave him an idea, one just crazy enough it might work. Frantically, Megamind pointed at Psycho Delic and called, "Indigo? Be a dear and shoot that man for Daddy, would you?"

"OK, Daddy!" Indigo cried with delight, eager to please her 'Daddy', and put the camera on the ground, a white energy pulse starting to cover her right hand. She thrust her hand towards Psycho Delic, and an energy beam (which Megamind had ensured was like a hi-tech Taser, which can't kill although anyone who's hit by a Taser _wishes_ it did) hit the criminal head on, knocking him off his feet.

The pain of being Tasered by a high-tech android did as Megamind had hoped, and Psycho Delic lost his mental hold on his victims. The citizens around the Megamind Museum blinked out of their horrifying trances, looking around in bewilderment at their "new" surroundings. And to Megamind's great relief, Minion suddenly froze, his hand going up to clutch his dome, and looked at Megamind bewilderment.

"S-Sir?" he asked. "What…"

Megamind put a hand on Minion's shoulder, careful to watch out for the sparks. "Never mind, Minion, just hold still so I can shut down this thing properly. You don't want to be electrocuted, do you?"

"No Sir, but…what happened to Psycho Delic?"

Megamind looked behind him where the criminal had managed to get to his knees. "He's going to be spending a long prison sentence in the Metro City jail," he spat, his eyes narrowing in anger as he saw the villain.

Psycho Delic laughed. "Jail? Going there would be a bummer, man. Catch you on the flipside." With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Megamind scowled as he glared at the area Psycho Delic had just been. "Next time, I will be ready for you," he vowed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Well, it has finally arrived; the first full-fledged mission based on an actual Justice League episode! Too bad it's the one about Amazo…the first one where the entirety of the League is supposed to band together to stop the invincible robot who cannot be stopped. Between you and me, though, it sure didn't** _ **look**_ **like the whole League was after him in that episode, but hey. I can fix that. ;) Those of you who have seen this episode, entitled, 'The Return' you know what's going to happen here, and a cookie if you catch the sentence foreshadowing the ending of that episode in this chapter. Those who haven't seen this episode, (and no doubt some who have) will probably hate my guts by the end of this chapter, but it is necessary I remain true to the source material, people! It's part of the plotline!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Megamind, or Justice League.**

 **AND SPOILER ALERT! This chapter contains major spoilers for the Justice League Unlimited episode 'The Return', as well as having minor references to the New Batman Adventures episode 'Beware the Creeper' and one quote from the Reign of Megamind free web comic.**

"Careful Sir," Minion said, having been put into a spare suit Megamind had created just in case something happened to the one he usually used. The fish/robot gorilla gently eased Megamind into his big leather chair back at the Unnamed Lair. "Easy does it, now."

Megamind wasn't all that injured, really, though his ribs felt a bit bruised and he was rather pleased that his chin hadn't turned purple from where Minion had sucker punched him. But he healed fast and in a matter of hours the pain would be gone and his body completely healed should he take it easy. Really though, he was scarcely hurt at all in relation to most of his previous battles. (Even while mind-controlled and trying his best to kill him, Minion didn't hit half as hard as Metro Man or Titan did. And yes, it _was_ Titan, not Tighten. Just because that Neanderthal couldn't spell his own name didn't mean Megamind should accommodate him.)

But really, that wasn't the point. The point was, it wasn't Metro Man or Titan who had caused these extremely minor injuries. Minion was beside himself with shame and regret that he was the cause of _all_ the aches and pains Megamind had in relation to today's events, and he was naturally trying to make up for it in the only way he knew how: by practically smothering his friend with over-protectiveness. A year ago, Megamind wouldn't have stood for this, his pride would have caused him to snap at Minion and tell him to knock it off, that he didn't need any help, but now he was wiser. To refuse Minion this would devastate the fish; and Minion had been through enough trauma today without Megamind's churlishness adding to the mix.

Minion was, by rights, the one and only person who had ever been with Megamind no matter what, even when he was a villain and a selfish, spoiled brat who treated him like dirt. It was always them against the world, and although it seemed like more and more of the world was wising up and deciding to be on his side (as he saw it) there would always be a special bond between him and Minion, who was his surrogate Mother/Father/Brother/Crazy Uncle/Best Friend all in one neat, fishy little package. If allowing himself to be babied and treated like he would break into pieces without _just_ the right amount of care made Minion feel better, then by God Megamind would swallow his pride and act like a freaking piece of porcelain China Tupperware. But only if it was temporary. He may be more understanding nowadays, but he certainly saw no need to overdo anything.

"Here we are, Sir," Minion wrapped Megamind's favorite wool blanket around his legs, tucking him into the fish's satisfaction. "Now, you just stay right here and rest up, and I'll make you some cookies!"

Megamind grinned at him, trying to show that he didn't hold Minion responsible for what had happened, partially because he wanted his friend to feel better, and partially because as soon as this silly guilt business was over with, the sooner he could get back to business as usual. "Minion, you fantastic fish you," he told his friend affectionately.

A beeping in his ear alerted him to the fact that _someone_ on the Watchtower wanted to get a hold of him. Megamind briefly wondered if whatever it was couldn't wait (and if he heard the Flash's voice, he was hanging up) but he knew he couldn't take the chance that something big was happening that required his knowledge or inventions. Seeing Minion's scowl as he reached for his earphone, he smiled at him soothingly. "I'm sure it's nothing, Minion," he said to placate him before activating his earphone. "Megamind here."

" _Megamind, report to the Watchtower immediately,"_ J'onn J'onzz's voice told him gravely. _"We have a situation."_

Of course they did; J'onn never bothered to call him otherwise. And he appreciated that they wanted his help, he really did, but he'd had a really exhausting day and right now, letting Minion coddle him for a few hours was really starting to sound like a good idea. Much better than going out to fight, _again._ "Are you sure another hero couldn't do just as well?" Megamind asked. "Blue Beetle is nearly as brilliant as I am, and if you pair him up with Batman the two of them will most certainly have enough gadgets between them to…"

" _They are both already a part of this mission,"_ J'onn interrupted. _"Everyone is."_

Megamind blinked, his jaw dropping in his shock. "You're kidding, right?" he asked incredulously. "What could possibly be dangerous enough that it calls for _every single member_ of the Justice League to combat it? What, is it the end of the world or something?"

" _If we cannot find a way to stop this, it very well might be,"_ J'onn replied gravely. _"The robot known as Amazo is coming here, and he has just destroyed Oa."_

Megamind paled. Oa was the planet where the Green Lantern Corps was stationed. There were probably hundreds of Green Lanterns, plus the Guardian council, on Oa at any given time. If _that_ much firepower couldn't save Oa from this Amazo… "I will be on the Watchtower within five minutes," Megamind vowed.

* * *

Minion had argued at first, but finally had to reluctantly agree that Megamind wouldn't be safe by sitting this fight out; it would merely put him in more danger. By fighting, at least, they had the illusion that they could stop an unstoppable robot. He had faced down the unbeatable before without flinching, after all, he could do it again. Hey, maybe this Amazo character would decide to leave them alone while he wandered off to find his purpose in life, the way Metro Man had done. He could hope, anyway.

Right now, he was standing with the rest of the League, between Plas and this yellow guy wearing nothing but a striped Speedo and what appeared to be a red feathered boa as Superman, J'onn, and Green Lantern briefed them on their plan of attack.

"We'll set up three layers of defense," J'onn was saying. "One on the ground. One in the upper atmosphere. One in space."

"That's me," Green Lantern added. "I wanna hammer that thing before it gets anywhere _near_ here."

"Move out," J'onn ordered, and everyone turned and rushed to find the groups they had been assigned. Each had been assigned based on basic powers and abilities; Booster Gold and Firestorm were joining Supergirl in the upper atmosphere as that was a local where their ability to fly would give them an advantage, although they was not capable of surviving in space, much less battling there. Blue Scarab, on the other hand, was going to be space defense, as his suit allowed him to survive in space. His mentor, Blue Beetle, not being able to fly, much less survive in space, would be with the ground forces. Megamind also found himself on the ground, along with Minion, Plastic Man, that yellow dude, a man named Steel, Ice, Wonder Woman, and to his dismay, the Flash.

Their team transported to the surface first, and they would be the last line of defense as well, so for the longest time, they had nothing to do but wait. Megamind was quite relieved to see that Flash was very professional around him now that they were facing a threat that could potentially destroy the world. He was grateful, especially when he realized that Wonder Woman pretty much hated his guts and Flash was literally the only thing keeping her in check so she didn't chuck him into the nearby ocean just on the principle of the thing. He became much more inclined to like Flash after that; partly because the red speedster was genuinely eager to befriend him, but mostly because he soon realized that Flash wasn't as scarily nuts as he thought he had been.

No, 'scary loony' wasn't squealing in Megamind's presence or hyperactively yelling triumph at acquiring his hand signature; scary loony was the yellow guy who had beamed down with them.

At the time, Megamind hadn't thought it was a bad idea to introduce himself to the man, as they hadn't met before and they had some time before they had to fight. (And if they were lucky, they wouldn't need to fight at all.) He had held his hand out to the man, introduced himself, and asked for his name.

The man had stood straight, struck a pose with his hands on his hips while he heroically threw out his chest, and declared, "They call me…Yellow Skinned Wacky Man! But I prefer the Creeper."

"Um…ok then," Megamind wondered which was his actual name, but finally figured that if he preferred to be Creeper, then that was probably how he should refer to him. "So, how did you decide to become a Superhero?"

"Joker threw me into a vat of toxic waste while pretending to be Batman," Creeper replied matter-of-factly. Megamind waited for some sort of elaboration, as that really didn't make any sense, especially not in the context of his question. But Creeper apparently didn't feel like elaborating; he was (literally) drooling as he caught sight of Ice.

"Woah, baby!" he cried, dropping on all fours and howling like a coyote. Megamind started backwards, stunned at the sight, but Creeper paid him no mind. Instead, he had darted to Ice's side, grinning at her as he invaded her personal space, his face literally less than an inch away from hers. "Hey, there, beautiful," he said in what he must assume was a flirtatious voice. "I don't have a library card, but I'm checking you out."

Ice gagged visibly, although whether it was because Creeper's breath was offensive or his (exceedingly) bad pickup line was offensive was anyone's guess. Megamind had found that Ice was shy and rarely spoke, but actions speak louder than words, as Creeper found when she hit him with an ice beam and knocked him to the ground, walking away from him afterwards.

Creeper looked after her with a dreamy expression on his face. "Ooh, feisty," he said, looking after Ice in admiration. "We'll take it slow at first," he added, then, his face lighting up, he all but yelled, "And then we'll get married and make babies!"

"Sounds like that guy's a few fries short of a happy meal," Steel observed as he landed in the clearing where the heroes had set up shop.

"Report," Wonder Woman told him.

"Super Girl and I have gotten Luthor to a somewhat safe place," Steel admitted. "If only because it's the last place Amazo would ever think to look for him."

The League had deduced that Lex Luthor, Superman's arch foe who claimed to have pulled a Megamind (as all of Megamind's friends called it) and no longer desired to kill Superman and partake in criminal activities, was the reason that Amazo had decided to come to earth in the first place. When he had first activated, the nano-machine known as Amazo had been very naïve, and Luthor had taken advantage of that fact, lied to him, and used him until the machine had 'evolved' by copying others attributes and powers to reach a level of intelligence that let him realize what Luthor was up to. Everyone figured the machine was out for revenge.

Megamind wouldn't admit it, of course, but part of him almost wished Amazo would get his vengeance. There was no lost love between him and Luthor (the pompous, air-headed windbag had tried to double-cross him on the one and only time he had agreed to work with him back in the day) and Amazo's story made him think of Indigo. The thought of someone taking advantage of her innocence and desire to make everyone happy was enough to make his blood boil.

But, justifiable or not, what Amazo was doing was clearly _wrong_ , and he had already destroyed an entire planet to get what he wanted, and would no doubt do the same to a second if he wasn't stopped. It was his duty as a hero to stop him, and that was that, and it didn't matter that his opponent was unbeatable.

Once, a long time ago, he had rhetorically asked a perplexing question during an on-air rant while he waited for Metro Man to come and save Roxanne Ritchi. The question he had asked: How do you defeat one who cannot be defeated?

The answer had been, and still was, simple. By defeating them.

Listening to Steel's explanation of Luthor's current hiding location, Blue Beetle suddenly burst into laughter. "A barber shop? Seriously? Gotta hand it to him, I certainly wouldn't have thought to look for him there."

Megamind had no idea what a 'barber shop' was, but apparently it was a brilliant hideaway, so he wasn't sure why it was so hilarious. His other allies were giggling about it too and nodding in agreement. Sometimes he hated not understanding simple things that everyone else seemed to understand, but it honestly wasn't important now. He had a robot to shut down.

Almost as an afterthought, he switched his de-gun's setting to deregulate. He had made some adjustments to the setting that would make it more likely to act as an EMP bomb than a disintegrator pistol, but he didn't think anyone would complain if he had miscalculated this time.

* * *

Megamind swallowed nervously as he saw Super Girl fall from the sky and hit the nearby ocean so hard that it formed a temporary geyser similar to Old Faithful. Amazo was battling the upper atmosphere group, which means that he had already taken out Super Man, Green Lantern, Blue Scarab, Captain Atom, Dr. Light, Fire and now, Super Girl, not to mention an entire armada of ships manned by countless other super heroes and military officers. And the League had only battled him for five minutes!

Blue Beetle was especially distraught at the realization that the space heroes had been defeated. "Do you think Blue Scarab's ok?" he asked Megamind in a low voice as they watched the battle.

"I don't know," Megamind had to admit. He didn't want to think that the robot had killed the ones he had just fought against, but then he _did_ destroy an entire planet without batting an eye earlier.

Beetle clenched his fists, closing his eyes tightly. "I shouldn't have encouraged him to do this," he mourned. "He was just a kid. Too young to risk his life like that, I should have realized that."

"He's not dead until you have proof," Megamind reminded his friend. "And in our line of work, probably not even then. Besides, he _wants_ to be a hero. He's not going to give up the Scarab, and the Scarab's not about to leave him. He'll be doing the same thing with or without your approval, Beetle. This way, at least you can guide him and keep him from making stupid and deadly mistakes along the way."

"So what's it like to be blue?" Without warning, the Creeper had suddenly appeared between them, putting an arm around both men's shoulders. "C'mon, tell me. I'll be your best friend," he added, as if giving incentive.

"No thanks," Blue Beetle replied, still upset about not knowing what had happened to Jaime—not to mention the fact that Booster, who was fast becoming one of his best friends, was pretty much getting his butt kicked up there right now—which meant he was not in the mood for jokes, or banter with insane lunatics who somehow managed to get in the League. Removing Creeper's arm from his shoulder, he turned and walked away.

"Aw, come on!" Creeper called after him. "I'll tell you what it's like to be yellow!"

Megamind decided to take advantage of the Creeper's distraction to make a hasty retreat to 'anywhere that's not near the yellow weirdo'. Before he could, the portable monitor that they had brought with them from the Watchtower flickered on, revealing J'onn's worried face.

"Second line of defense is down?" Steel asked.

"Prepare yourselves," J'onn warned, before ending the transmission quickly.

Amazo set down in front of the barber shop, and wordlessly started to walk towards it. Wonder Woman quickly flew in front of him, blocking his path. Steel, Flash, and Ice surrounded his left, right, and flank. Blue Beetle, Creeper, Plastic Man, Megamind, and Minion stood further back as directed, prepared to fight at a moment's notice.

"When will you learn?" Amazo asked them. A fiery energy developed his body, then expanded outward like an explosion, catching everyone—even the heroes who had stayed back—in its wake, knocking them back. Megamind flew backwards and his head hit something hard with a _whack_ that could not be heard over the sound of the blast Amazo had produced, and the blue alien had scarcely a moment of regret before his world went black and he knew no more.

They had failed spectacularly. Barring a miracle, nothing would stop the robot.


End file.
